(BEIJING, September 9) -- The qualifiers for the second stage of proceedings in the Women's Individual - Class 3, Classes 6/7 plus Men's Individual - Class 6 and Class 7 were determined in the second session of play in the Peking University Gymnasium, as were the semifinalists in Men's Individual - Class 3, Classes 4/5 and Classes 9/10.
Mateja Pintar of Slovenia, the defending champion and No.1 seed in the Women's Individual - Class 3 event, concluded her group matches with a victory over Doris Mader of Austria to finish in first position, while in similar fashion, Alena Kanova of Slovakia, Li Qian of China and Michela Brunelli of Italy booked their semifinal berths.
Kanova, the Athens 2004 bronze medalist, beat Athens silver medalist Stephanie Mariage France in her final group match as Li accounted for Yanelis Silva of Cuba and Brunelli overcame Alet Moll of South Africa.
Also winning were the top seed in Class 3 and the respective top four seeds in Women's Individual Class 6/7, an event not held at the Athens 2004 Paralympic Games. Kelly Van Zon of Netherlands, Yulia Ovsyannikova and Natalia Martyasheva of Russia, as well as Faiza Mahmoud Afify of Egypt emerged as group winners, all four remaining unbeaten.
In the final group matches, Van Zon defeated Katarzyna Pitry of Poland, Ovsyannikova overpowered Viktoria Safonovaof Ukraine, Martyasheva beat Antonina Khodzynska of Ukraine and Mahmoud Afify overcame Giselle Munoz of Argentina.
There were straightforward decisions for the ladies, but for the men there were complications.
In Men's Individual Class 6, Daniel Arnold of Germany, Peter Rosenmeier of Denmark and Nico Blok of Netherlands, all completed their first stage programs unbeaten. However, for Rainer Schmidt of Germany it was a close call. He gained the top place on games difference ahead of Dave Wetherill of Great Britain and Miroslaw Kowalski of Poland.
It was a similar situation in the Men's Individual Class 7.
There were perfect records for Jochen Wollmert of Germany, Ye Chaoqun of China and Alvaro Valera of Spain but not for Mitchell Seidenfeld of the United States. Like Schmidt, he qualified on games ratio with Stephane Messi of France, the Athens Champion and Adam Jurasz of Poland the players to miss out.
With the second stage players known, the semi-finalists in the Men's Individual Class 3, Classes 4/5 and Classes 9/10 are now determined.
At the quarter-final stage in Class 3, Feng Panfeng of China and Jean-Philippe Robin of France, the Athens silver medalist, endured the closest examination. Both were extended to the full five games distance with Feng overcoming Kim Young-gun of the Republic of Korea, the Athens 2004 gold medalist, and Robin defeating Zlatko Kesler of Serbia, the No.3 seed and Athens bronze medalist.
However, for Luiz Algacir Silva of Argentina and Tomas Pinas of Spain life was less traumatic. The former beat Florian Merrien of France, the No.1 seed, in three straight games, while, in one game more, the latter overcame Jan Gurtler of Germany.
Similarly there were two full distance quarterfinal matches in Classes 4/5.
Tommy Urhaug of Norway the No.1 seed was extended the full distance by Zhang Yan of China as was Ernst Bollden of Sweden by Sameh Saleh of Egypt. There were tough matches but not so exacting for Christophe Durand of France and Jung Eun-chang of the Republic of Korea.
Durand, the Athens bronze medalist, won in straight games against Peter Mihalik of Slovakia; Jung succeeded by the same margin against Emeric Martin of France.
There was success for the top seed in Classes 4/5 but not in Classes 9/10 where Jose Manuel Ruiz of Spain was beaten in five games by Fredrik Andersson of Sweden, the Men's Individual Class 10 silver medalist in Athens.
The remaining quarterfinal matches all saw straight games verdicts.
Ma Lin of China defeated Esa Miettinen of Finland; Ge Yang of China overcame Gilles De La Bourdonnaye of France; and Gerben Last of the Netherlands ended the hopes of Dezso Berecki of Hungary.
Ge won the bronze medal in Men's Individual Class 10 in Athens.