A full house of titles, Egypts Abdelrahman Abdelwahab and Sayed Youssef, alongside Romanias Ioana-Monica Tepelea emerged the most successful players on duty at the ITTF Saudi Arabia Para Open 2023 when play concluded in Riyadh on Thursday 10th August.

Abdelrahman Abdelwahab secured the mens singles class 10 title, before partnering Japans Arufuahirokazu Tateishi to mens doubles class 18 gold and Ioana-Monica Tepelea to the top prize in mixed doubles class 20.

The win gave Arufuahirokazu Tateishi a second title, one day earlier he had won mens singles class 8.

Meanwhile, for Ioana-Monica Tepelea, it completed her trilogy. Earlier, she had partnered Indias Devyani Walhe to womens doubles class 20 success, having the previous day secured the womens singles class 7-10 title.

Similarly, there was no stopping Sayed Youssef. After winning mens singles class 6-7, he won mens doubles class 14 partnering Saudi Arabias Jazaa Al-Shammari, mixed doubles class 14 in harness with compatriot, Hanna Hammad.

Three titles, it was two for Egypts Ahmed El-Mahsy, Sameh Eid and Faiza Mahmoud, as it was for the host nations Maryam Almyrisl, Iraqs Rusul Al-Waeili and Slovakias Alena Kanova.

Ahmed El-Mahsy claimed the mens doubles class 4 title partnering Saudi Arabias Munahi Bin Libdah, prior to enjoying the same success in mixed doubles class 4, alongside Zahra Al-Tala, also from Saudi Arabia.

Somewhat differently, Sameh Eid partnered Nigerias Isau Ogunkunle to mens doubles class 8 gold, having the previous day claimed mens singles class 4 gold.

Not to be overshadowed by her colleagues, Faiza Mahmoud, the womens singles class 5 winner, allied with Hassan Tolba, also from Egypt, to win mixed doubles class 10; Maryam Almyrisl added womens doubles class 5 gold alongside Egypts Fawzia El-Shamy, after having secured the womens singles class 1 title.

Maintaining the trend, Rusul Al-Waeili, having prevailed in womens singles class 4, joined forces with Saudi Arabias Ghaliah Al-Anazi to win womens doubles class 10; Alena Kanova, the womens singles class 2-3 winner concluded her visit to Riyadh by partnering teammate Boris Travnicek to mixed doubles class 7 gold.

Adding to titles, for Indias Sandeep Dangi, Slovakias Jan Riapos and Cameroons Alex Djitouo, alongside Egypts Mamdouh Tamam and Ayman Zanati, it was one apiece in the mens singles event.

It was the same for Romanias Gabriela Constantin in the womens singles, she won class 6.

Gabriela Constantin commenced play the top seed, a situation that applied to Sandeep Dangi in class 1 and Jan Riapos in class 2; success as predicted. In a similar vein, Mamdouh Tamam, the class 3 winner, commenced proceedings in the no.3 seeded position; however, the successes gained by Ayman Zanati and Alex Djitouo were not to be anticipated.

Ayman Zanati won class 5, overcoming colleague, Hassan Tolba, the top seed in the final (5-11, 11-6, 11-2, 6-11, 11-8). Not seeded but he had pedigree, he had struck gold at the 2019 African Championships in Alexandria.

A similar scenario applied to Alex Djitouo, he did not occupy a seeded place but unlike Ayman Zanati had no previous international experience; he claimed the class 9 title, accounting for top seed, Egypts Hassan Hosny (11-5, 11-8, 10-12, 11-6).

Undoubtedly the surprise of the whole tournament. Alex Djitouo is 24 years old, Hassam Hosny, 42 years of age, a player with considerable experience, a host of African Para Championships medals to his name.

Play concluded in Riyadh, attention now turns to Ulsan for the ITTF Korea Para Open 2023, a factor 40 tournament for World ranking points, play in the four-day tournament commences on Friday 18th August.