A good day for France on the football field in Qatar as they booked their place in the final of the FIFA World Cup; further west on Wednesday 15^th December, it was the same at the ITTF Copa Costa Rica 2022 in San José.

In both instances medals are assured, the colour to be decided.

Occupying the top seeded places in their respective categories, Yorick Adjal and Emeric Martin are assured of a minimal bronze; for Lucie Hautière the worst case scenario is silver.

Competing in men’s singles class 2-3, Yorick Adjal duly booked his place in the penultimate round, as in men’s singles class 4-5 did Emeric Martin.

Meanwhile, in a group organised all-play-all women’s singles event, with one match to play, Lucie Hautière and Colombia Jessica Alzate remain the only unbeaten players.

Semi-final places booked as anticipated for France, it was the same for the Czech Republic; in the men’s singles event Zbynek Lambert progressed to the penultimate round in class 6-7 as did Ivan Karabec in class 10.

Success for Europe, for the Americas, in the men’s singles events the host nation’s Steven Roman on duty in class 8 and Chile’s David Letelier, likewise top seeds, reserved their penultimate round places.

Outcomes as anticipated, it was the same in women’s singles class 3-4, Colombia’s Manuels Guapi remaining unbeaten.

However, as is often the situation, there is an exception, women’s singles class 6-7 provided the surprise.

Romania’s top seeded Gabriela Constantin was beaten by colleague Camelia Ciripan in her opening contest (11-9, 3-11, 11-8, 11-8). Later, Camelia Ciripan lost to Canada’s Stephanie Chan (4-11, 13-15, 11-9, 13-11, 11-9).

At the end of the day Stephanie Chan emerged the only player unbeaten, Gabriela Constantin and Camelia Ciripan each had one defeat against their names; in the concluding series of matches, Stephanie Chan meets Gabriela Constantin.

The men’s singles and women’s singles events conclude on Thursday 15^th December.