Paul Drinkhall lived up to his No 1 seeding as he claimed the Men’s Singles title at the Olympic test event in Rio.
The 25-year-old Loftus player was impressive in beating Thiago Monteiro of the host nation 4-0 (11-5, 12-10, 11-7, 11-7) to take the Aquece Rio International Tournament.
He had previously had to dig deep in the semi-final to see off another Brazilian, Cazuo Matsumoto 4-3 (11-4, 7-11, 8-11, 11-7, 9-11, 11-7, 11-9).
“It was very good for me to come and see the conditions in Rio”, Drinkhall told the ITTF website.
“The Brazilian team is very good, they have good players like Thiago and Cazuo, against Cazuo I had a very tough semi-final. Also, Thiago is a very difficult opponent but I managed to keep on top of my game.
“Hopefully I am going to be here next year and again with a positive result.”
Happy with my performance and to get the win out here at the #Rio2016 test event! #Getinthere @TeamGB @Rio2016_en pic.twitter.com/Vpz1knP7HI
— Paul Drinkhall (@pdrinkhall) November 19, 2015