Natalia Partyka of Poland, who became the first Table Tennis player to compete in both Olympic and Paralympics, secured gold in the Women's Individual Class 10 event beating Fan Lei of China in the final.

In doing so, she retained the title won at Athens 2004 and halted the run of Chinese success, but China did clinch two medals in the event - silver for Fan and bronze for Hou Chunxiao, who defeated Michala La Bourdonnaye of the Czech Republic in the crucial duel.

Earlier in the afternoon the host country had clinched gold in all four Wheelchair Classes for women.

Liu Jing of China won the top prize in Classes 1-2, with Italian companions Pamela Pezzutto and Clara Podda, the respective silver and bronze medalists. In Class 3 it was Li Qian of China who struck gold with Alena Kanova of Slovakia the silver medalist and Mateja Pintar of Slovenia, the Athens champion, securing bronze.

A third gold came in Women's Individual Class 4, with Zhou Ying of China beating Borislava Peric of Serbia, the No.1 seed, in the final. The bronze medal went to Moon Sung-hye of the Republic of Korea.

The hat-trick completed, there was no choice other than to make it four; the Women's Individual Class 5 final saw two Chinese players in opposition with Ren Guixiang retaining the title won in Athens, at the expense of companion, Gu Gai. Andrea Zimmerer of Germany, the No.1 seed won Bronze.

Meanwhile in all remaining individual events the medal contenders were known, with the semifinals seeing notable casualties.

In Men's Individual Class 5, Tommy Urhaug of Norway, the No.1 seed, was beaten by Christophe Durand of France who plays Jung Eun-chang of the Republic of Korea, the Athens 2004 silver medalist, in the final. He beat Sameh Saleh of Egypt in his penultimate round duel.

Similarly, in Women's Individual Class 8 there was a semifinal surprise. Zhang Xiaoling of China, the winner of Women's Individual Classes 6-8 in Athens, lost to Josefin Abrahamsson of Sweden who will meet top seed Thu Kamkasomphou of France in the final, a penultimate round victor over compatriot Claire Mairie of France.

Also departing earlier than the statistics predicted was Kelly Van Zon of the Netherlands. Seeded No.1 she lost her semifinal duel in Women's Individual Classes 6-7 event against Natalia Martyasheva of Russia in what has proved a very successful event for Russia. In the counterpart semifinal, Yulia Ovsyannikova of Russia defeated Faiza Mahmoud Afify of Egypt.

However, in Women's Individual Class 9, matters went according to plan with the Chinese pair of Lei Lina and Liu Meili recording respective wins over Malgorzata Grzelak of Poland and Neslihan Kavas of Turkey to reach the final, just as they did in Athens in 2004.

In the Men's events, Class 1 saw mixed semifinal fortunes for the Republic of Korea with Cho Jae-kwan defeating Jean-Francois Ducay of France but Lee Hae-kon losing to top seed Andreas Vevera of Austria.

Also, in Men's Individual Class 2 there was a reverse for the Republic of Korea.

Kim Kyung-mook of the Republic of Korea, the Athens bronze medalist, was beaten by Vincent Boury of France, while, in the counterpart semifinal, Stephane Molliens of France overcame Lars Hansen of Denmark.

There was also success for France in Men's Individual Class 3. Jean-Philippe Robin, the Athens 2004 silver medalist, beat Tomas Pinas of Spain in his semifinal duel, while Feng Panfeng overcame Luiz Algacir Silva of Brazil.

Surprises abound, but not in Men's Individual Class 6 or in Men's Individual Class 7, where the top two seeds in both events reached the final.

In Class 6, Daniel Arnold of Germany, the defending champion and top seed, overcame Nico Blok of the Netherlands in his semifinal duel, and Peter Rosenmeier of Denmark accounted for Rainer Schmidt of Germany; in Class 7 Jochen Wollmert of Germany, the No.1 seed, overcame Alvaro Valera of Spain and Ye Chaoqun of China, the No.2 seed, defeated Mitchell Seidenfeld of Team USA.

Success for China came in the guise of Ye Chaoqun and there were other successes for China in both Men's Individual Class 8 and Men's Individual Class 9/10.

Class 8 saw Chen Gang of China account for colleague Li Manzhou in the semifinals with Piotr Grudzien of Poland defeating Miroslav Jambor of Slovakia in the counterpart match, while in Class 9/10 it was double penultimate round success for China.

Ma Lin of China beat Fredrik Andersson of Sweden, the Athens 2004 Men's Individual Class 10 silver medalist, while Ge Yang of China, the Athens Class 10 bronze medalist, overcame Gerben Last of the Netherlands.

(BOCOG September 10, 2008)