Sam von Einem takes silver after dramatic para-table tennis final

📷 | Paralympics Australia

Sam von Einem claimed the Men's Singles class 11 para-table tennis silver medal tonight at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games, after losing a tightly contested 5-game match against 2012 Paralympic champion Peter Palos of Hungary (11-6, 7-11, 11-7, 6-11, 9-11).

The 26-year-old Adelaide native won Australia's second silver medal in para-table tennis, after teammate Lin Ma took silver yesterday in the Men's Singles class 9.  It's also the second Paralympic medal for von Einem, who took silver at his Paralympic debut in Rio 2016.

The Aussie came agonisingly close to claiming Australia's first gold in para-table tennis since 1984, with the final result only having two points separating the two men. It was a dramatic seesaw match where von Einem went in front twice (1-0 and 2-1), but was always pulled back by a collected and resilient Palos. The Hungarian world no.1 started the decisive final set in front, breaking away on 5-2 and defending the lead until the end, even though Von Einem never gave up and managed to pull back to be within two points. But he was unable to deny  Palos his three gold medal.

"He was more composed tonight," von Einem admitted. "He's already won it [gold] twice before and he used that experience to his advantage. I am trying to chase my first one and it was a huge challenge to try and get over the world no. 1 in the final. It got very tight in the end, a few errors and a few good balls by him - that's the difference.

"Two silvers is amazing. If you had told me that I would have won two silvers when I started, I would have taken it with both hands. So it's still a fantastic achievement to get two silvers. The first one felt really good, this one I thought I could go that one more, but it just wasn't to be,” he said.

Australia has already secured two additional medals in para-table tennis, with Li Na Lei and Qian Yang taking to the court tomorrow for the gold medal playoffs in the Women's Singles class 9 and 10 respectively. With four medals taken from the Singles events, Australia has already secured its best medal haul in para-table tennis at the Paralympic Games since 1964. The Aussies will try to add even more silverware to their record-matching total when the Team events get underway on Tuesday 31 August.

Final result: Peter Palos (HUN) b. Sam von Einem (AUS) 3-2 [11-6, 7-11, 11-7, 6-11, 9-11]

Men’s Singles class 11

• GOLD: Peter Palos (HUN)
• SILVER: Sam von Einem (AUS)
• BRONZE: Lucas Creange (FRA) & Florian van Acker (BEL)

What’s next:

Monday 30 August - All matches broadcast live on 7Plus.

• GOLD MEDAL: Women's class 9 Final - Li Na Lei vs Guiyan Xiong (CHN) - 6.45pm AEST
• GOLD MEDAL: Women's class 10 Final - Qian Yang vs Bruna Alexandre (BRA) - 7.45pm AEST