Underdog Triumph: Pierre Dereume’s First Victory in Wheelchair Table Tennis Tournament

A first victory for Pierre Dereume

The most glorious perhaps, since it is gold, ended up around the neck of Pierre Dereume, in the competition contested in a wheelchair. “I had never won a disabled sports tournament. My best result is a final at the Dandoy challengeexplains the main person concerned. I haven’t been playing table tennis for long. I stopped playing tennis due to health problems. But I have been in a table tennis club for two years, in Leuze then in Tournai“In any case, Pierre has a modest victory.”The top four were absent so I had a chance of getting a good result. But winning is also a lot of success“. These Masters were a first for the Tournaisien, who being 13th Belgian, does not usually participate. With 6 table tennis players finally present (Editor’s note: Leuze being too eccentric for some) he took his chance. “I won my two group matches 3-1. We had to play well, it wasn’t easy to win. For my second match, I did well to win the first set, because I had a set point against me and then I lost the second set. If I lost 2-0 the result could have been totally different“. In the final, Pierre beat Antoine Maeck (3-1). A result all the more gratifying as it is not helped by his health. “I’ve had serious problems for about 20 years and I’ve had a lot of ups and downs. Fortunately I felt good on the daytells the one who plays in P4 and P5 in valid to Don Bosco. I’ve also been playing with new material recently, so it’s changing my bearings. And for the final, I did not play with my racket, the rules forbidding me because there were too many solvents on it“.

Simon Nullens does it again for his 2nd participation

Still in Masters Handisport, but standing this time, the adopted Tournaisian Simon Nullens finished third, a result identical to that of last year during his first participation. “I am happy with this resultsays the one who suffers from Poland syndrome (less muscles in the pectoral and right arms). I hoped to get on the podium but I knew that the groups were going to be difficult because I was in the group of Mathieu Loicq, a great player that I have only beaten once in the past. I therefore knew that to qualify for the 3rd place match, my first match, ultimately won 3-1, was already decisive. I easily won the first set but the second was close until the end. If it had been 1-1, I think the match would have been different but I was able to take the mental advantage“. Simon won his second group match but lost in the third.”I almost took the 1st set but Mathieu was a cut above“. The original Namurois then defeated Julien Lemaire for third place (3-0).”I think I could have played in the final if I had fallen in the other group. But we must also take into account that there were three big absentees, including Marc Ledoux, who was saving himself for a qualifying tournament for the Games“, concludes the one who plays in P1 and P2 at Don Bosco, and who after about ten years of stopping in disabled sports, took up this discipline a few years ago.

Mathieu Loicq left no chance

Although he stopped his career in disabled sports several years ago, Mathieu Loicq, one of the architects of Herseaux’s rise to N3, absolutely wanted to compete in the Masters. In any case, he left no chance to his competitors, winning his three group matches 3-0 and losing only a few feathers against Hamza Taleb in the final (3-1), despite back and foot pain. .

2024-03-27 19:24:00
#Handisports #Masters #Leuze #Don #Bosco #Mathieu #Loicq #hit