Ireland’s Para Table tennis star, Colin Judge, produced his best tournament of the year to date as he claimed bronze medals in both the singles and team events at the Para Polish Open at the weekend.
Former European champion, Judge, had been reclassified last year moving him into a very competitive grouping. Initially it has taken Colin time to adjust to the new standard but the signs from Poland at the weekend point towards progress.
Colin was given a very tough draw in the singles competition as he was drawn in a group with World number 11, Jan Guertler. Colin got off to a good start by defeating Giardini 3-1 before scoring a stunning upset by defeating Guertler by 3-0. A final victory over Acosta secured his passage through to the quarter finals where he was given another daunting draw, this time he would be facing the world number 4 Florian Merrien from France.
Colin would guarantee his medal after completing a brilliant win against Merrien by 3-1 to progress to a semi final versus the world number 3 Thomas Bruchle. Judge put himself in position to win 2 sets in his semi final but just couldn’t get the scores that he needed as he was defeated 3-0.
Colin then teamed up with Shmuel Ben Asor from Israel to take on the Number 2 seeds from Germany and the duo from Romania/Begium. Victory over the Romanian/Belgium team was enough to earn a semi final plcing for the team versus the French team. The French proved to be too strong for Colin and Shmuel as they won 3-1 but the result secured a second bronze medal of the competition for Colin Judge.
