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Leibovitz Finishes Fourth in Men's Open Standing Division at 2006 IPC Table Tennis World Championships
U.S. athletes shut out in medal count
By Marvin Olberding
// U.S. Paralympics
// October 1, 2006
After winning his first four matches in the Men's Open Standing competition at the 2006 IPC Table Tennis World Championships in Montreux, Switzerland, Tahl Leibovitz (Ozone Park, N.Y.) found himself in the semifinals and in a prime position to come home with a medal. Unfortunately, when the medals were handed out, he was on the outside looking in.
Leibovitz fell to the eventual gold medalist, China's Yang Ge, in the semifinals, 3-0, setting up a bronze-medal match with Austria's Stanislaw Fraczyk. The match would not be determined until the fifth and final set, and Fraczyk came out on top, 15-8, 11-15, 15-5, 7-15, 15-8.
Leibovitz's fourth-place finish would prove to be the closest that any U.S. athlete would come to reaching the medal podium. In the Class 9 Singles competition, Leibovitz was eliminated in the quarterfinals by China's Lin Ma, who also went on to win gold. No other U.S. athlete was able to advance past the opening round.
China easily topped both the gold medal and overall medal counts, winning 14 golds and 25 medals overall. France finished second in the overall count with 16 (two gold, seven silver, seven bronze).
Full results from the 2006 IPC Table Tennis World Championships can be found at http://www.montreux2006.ch/. Highlights from the event will also be available Oct. 4 at http://www.paralympicsport.tv/.
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