Play in the individual events came to a conclusion in the Peking University Gymnasium with gold medals going the way of France, Denmark and China.
In the Men's Individual Class 4-5 event, Christophe Durand of France recovered from a two games to one deficit to beat Republic of Korea's Jung En-chang, the near capacity crowd enthralled by the duel; the ROK is to be commended for his outstanding sportsmanship.
Trailing 3-9 in the crucial fifth game, an attacking stroke from Durand clipped the edge of the table at the Korean's side. The umpire awarded the point to Jung, not having seen the faint edge, Jung immediately advised that the point should be awarded to Durand. The score was corrected.
Tommy Urhaug of Norway secured bronze by beating Sameh Saleh of Egypt.
In the Men's Individual Class 2 France won more medals with two Frenchmen facing each other in the final. Victory went to Vincent Boury with Stephane Molliens, the runner up. Bronze was won by Kim Kyung-mook of ROK who overcame Lars Hansen of Denmark in the crucial duel.
In Men's Individual Class 6 it was Denmark who celebrated. Peter Rosenmeier, the No. 2 seed and Athens bronze medalist, went two steps better than four years ago; he upset the seeding to beat Daniel Arnold of Germany in the final to clinch gold.
The bronze medal went to Nico Blok from the Netherlands. After beating Rainer Schmidt of Germany, the Athens silver medalist, Blok laid face down on the floor in unbridled delight; true to character the German hugged his adversary, smiling and offering words of congratulation.
In Men's Individual Class 8, Chen Gang of China beat Piotr Grudzien of Poland in the final, but there was disappointment for the hosts; in the bronze medal match, Li Manzhou if China was defeated in five games by Miroslav Jambor of Slovakia.
However, the day ended in joy for China with both gold and silver being their reward in the Men's Individual Class 9/10. Ge Yang overcame Ma Lin in the final.
Fredrik Andersson of Sweden, the Athens Men's Individual Class 10 silver medalist, clinched the bronze medal beating Gerben Last of the Netherlands in the crucial play-off contest.
(BOCOG September 11, 2008)