On the final day of competition at the 6th PPP World Championships in Lignano, the gold medals were spread around very evenly – no one managed to win exactly two titles this time. However, one player won three – Thorsten Flues (GER), who achieved this for the third time after Berlin 2021 and Wels 2023, defending his titles in the singles and mixed doubles with Silke Kind (GER) and winning his third title in the doubles with Thorsten Boomhuis (GER).
Silke Kind won her second medal in the singles, where she was only able to take the third game from the new title holder Elvira Garcia (ESP) in the final, after defeating last year’s winner Melanie Jeska (GER) in the semi-finals. Jeska, in turn, defended her title in the women’s doubles final alongside Agnes Jan (AUT) against Elvira Garcia and Elisabeth Ildal (DEN). Jeska won her third medal in the mixed doubles alongside Norbert Hase (GER), who, like in the men’s doubles with Heiko Probst (GER), was unable to turn the silver medals from Lasko into gold.
Last year’s doubles winners, Ilya Rozenblat/Hamid Ezzat-Ahmadi (USA), lost to Hase/Probst in the semi-finals this time, but secured a second medal each with silver in the singles (Rozenblat) and bronze in the doubles (Ezzat-Ahmadi together with Rie Koyama/JPN). In addition to the silver medal in the men’s doubles, Heiko Probst also won the bronze medal in the mixed doubles alongside Andrea Müllner (GER).
In Class 2, Patrick Erdrich (GER) secured a complete set of medals. In addition to winning the men’s doubles and the bronze medal in the mixed doubles, he also reached the singles final against Spain’s Manuel Lopez Lobarinas, who won six more points than Erdrich in his 3-0 victory. Lobarinas won his second medal in the men’s doubles, where he advanced to the semi-finals.
Sandra Müller and Claudia Rehr, two German women, each won two medals in Class 2. Sandra Müller was unable to defend her singles title from last year and won bronze this time, but was successful in the women’s doubles with Hermine Hofner (AUT). Claudia Rehr lost to Marie-Helene Powolny (FRA) in the singles final and secured bronze in the women’s doubles together with Andrea Müllner, who thus stood on the podium in both Class 1 and Class 2.
All doubles competitions in Class 3 were clearly dominated by the German starters, who provided all the finalists here. Gold and silver went to Claudia Praße (doubles) and Petra Kühnert (mixed doubles), who won their silver medals in exactly opposite fashion. Their mixed doubles partners Horst Schunk (gold) and Wolfgang Krebs (silver) also won two medals, which they did together in the men’s doubles by reaching the semi-finals. Roswitha Lamm and Reinhard Augstein secured bronze together in the mixed doubles and also came second in the doubles. However, the German players in Class 3 were unable to win a single medal in the singles competitions. Anita Schultz (NED) and Hillel Shemer (ISR) prevailed here.
On the final day, the atmosphere in the hall in Lignano was lively on several occasions as teammates cheered loudly for their finalists or when the medallists went to the podium at the award ceremony. The PPP Italia team, led by Natale Galli, Giacomino Iob, Carla Alessandrini and Graziano Scarsini, ran the tournament smoothly together with PPP Germany, led by Isabell Meyer, Thorsten Boomhuis and the two tournament directors Hilmar Heinrichmeyer and Michael Theis. Special mention must be made of the tremendous support provided by the Friuli-Venezia Giulia region, without which the largest PingPongParkinson World Championship until now could not have taken place.