PAUL DRINKHALL is through to the next stage of European qualifying for this summer’s Olympics, but faces an extremely tough task tomorrow.
Drinkhall, who is from Loftus, won two of his three first-stage matches, beating Belgium’s Florent Lambiet 4-3 and Ibrahim Gunduz of Turkey 4-0. However, he then lost 4-2 to Spain’s Carlos Machado.
With Machado, Lambiet and Drinkhall tied with two wins apiece, Drinkhall was placed third in the group on countback.
That means he will face one of the top seeds – world number 23 Simon Gauzy of France – tomorrow. Gauzy beat Drinkhall 3-0 in the quarter-finals of the recent World Team Championships, although England won 3-2 overall to claim a bronze medal.
If he beats Gauzy, Drinkhall, ranked number 68 in the world, will need to win two more matches to qualify for Rio. If he fails, there is still another chance in a second stage for eliminated athletes on Friday and Saturday.
After that, qualification would rest on Drinkhall’s world ranking, with the field for Rio to be finalised in May.
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