Todmorden’s Shackleton strikes gold in US Open medal hat-trick
Todmorden table tennis ace Megan Shackleton has returned from the ITTF US Para Open with three medals, including a gold in the combinedwomen’sclass1-5event.
Shackleton’s road to gold started in the group stages with a 3-0 win against the debutant Wei Liu from the USA and a 3-1 win against class 4 world number 10 Wassana Sringam from Thailand, gold medallist in the 2023 World Ability Games.
She received a bye into the semi-finals and came through a very tough battle against Panwas Sringam 11-9 in the fifth after the class 5 world number nine and world silver medallist from Thailand had edged the fourth set 12-10 to level the match.
That took her through to face Caroline Tabib in the final and she led 2-0 before the class 5 world number eight from Israel fought back to level at 2-2. But Shackleton was not to be denied and she held her nerve to take the deciding set 11-9 for a 3-2 win and her first singles gold since the Czech Open in 2018.
“I’ve played some good stuff this tournament,” said Shackleton, “and found some grit when things were tough, especially coming through two 3-2 matches back-toback.
"It was great to hold my own and try to outwork the class 5 players and to win the fifth set after Tabib came back and levelled is great experience for managing match pressures in the later stages of a tournament.”
Shackleton’s medal rush continued into the doubles where she won silver with Mexican Martha Verdin in women’s class 10 and combined with Jack HunterSpivey to take silver in mixed class 10.
Shackleton and Martha Verdin, the former PanAmerican champion from Mexico, were 3-0 winners against
Valerie Ann Rolph and Liu Wei from USA but lost 3-0 to Thailand’s Panwas and Wassana Sringam.
They secured the silver medal with a 3-1 win against Patamawadee Intanon from
Thailand and Pamela Fontaine from USA in their final round-robin match.
In partnership with Hunter-Spivey, Shackleton lost 3-1 to Kittinan Harnpichai and Panwas Sringam from Thailand
and then beat USA’s Jose Antonio Rodriguez and Valerie Ann Rolph 3-0. They took silver after a 3-0 win in their final round-robin match against Americans Zachary Pickett and Liu Wei.