The fourth day of competition reduced the field in the mixed doubles from 32 to 8 pairs. The biggest surprise was that the 2022 world champions in Pula, Margie Alley and Ilya Rozenblat (USA), had to throw in the towel in their very first match. Their five-set defeat to Nadine Klein/Dieter Hess (GER) was the biggest surprise of the day, which otherwise saw the first two rounds of the men’s doubles and the second round of the men’s singles (last 32) proceed without any major surprises. By 3:45 p.m., all matches were over, and immediately afterwards, the Bella Italia team prepared the hall for the PingPongParkinson Players Party.
From 8 p.m. until after midnight, the social highlight of the tournament took place, starting with a five-course meal, continuing with the PPP anthems by Nenad Bach and ending with dance music, which was gratefully received by many of the participants. It was amazing how much energy the participants still had left for dancing, even though some of them had had a strenuous day of competition behind them.
