In Amman, Jordan, the International Table Tennis Tournament in the F20 category took place, where Kazakhstani athletes earned 6 prestigious awards.
Among the male athletes, Kazakhstani player Meirbek Utepov stood out by winning silver and bronze medals at the ITTF Al-Watani Para Championships-2024 tournament. In the singles competition for the 3rd place, he defeated a local athlete with a score of 3:0. In the doubles competition, Meirbek partnered with a player from India, defeating pairs from Saudi Arabia and the UK on their way to the final. However, they were defeated by Iraqi athletes in the final match with a score of 2:3, securing the 2nd place.
Two female table tennis players from the capital city, Balziya Tash and Alexandra Stepanova, also performed exceptionally well in Jordan, each winning two bronze medals. Balziya Tash secured the third place in the singles category and also won in the mixed competition with Sunatillo Muradollaev from Uzbekistan, defeating athletes from the UAE with a score of 3:0 in the bronze medal match.
Alexandra Stepanova, a teammate of Balziya Tash, achieved a similar feat by winning bronze in the singles competition and in the mixed doubles with Simon Hips from the UK. It is worth noting that after the Jordan battles, Balziya Tash and Alexandra Stepanova will compete in the same F20 category tournament in Podgorica, Montenegro on April 29th.
On April 21st, Kazakhstan secured its 12th license for the 2024 Paralympic Games. Temirkhan Dairbek earned the spot by winning at the Asian Championship in Para Rowing in the Korean city of Chungju.
