Colin Judge's battling performance wasn’t enough as he lost his Para table tennis round of 16 clash 3-0 to world number one Panfeng Feng.
The Chinese athlete already has one gold medal at the Paris Games in the mixed doubles XD7, and if he goes on to win here his gold count will move into double figures.
He didn’t have it all his own way against the Dubliner, who proved particularly competitive in the first two sets in what was his first appearance having received a bye in the round of 32.
Judge, with a big Irish support behind him, took an early lead in the first set of this men's singles MS3 clash, but it was one of only two times he led in the entire match, and both by a single point.
After going to 3-3, Feng moved 6-3 ahead but back Judge came to level it up again at 7-7.
Feng though was able to claim the last four points to move one set up.
The second set followed a similar path with Judge competing well in the early stages and he led 5-4 at one point, but his opponent again finished strongly to win 11-8.
The third set, however, was more one-side as Feng led 10-1 and although Judge won two points in a row, Feng hit the net to win 11-3 and 3-0 overall.
Colin Judge was happy with how he played in losing to world number one Panfeng Feng, "a role model of mine", he added, in the Para table tennis round of 16 #RTEparalympics #paris2024
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"A really tough one but I'm really, really happy with how I played," Judge told RTÉ Sport afterwards.
"I played against the world number one, he’s not the best in the world for no reason.
"I gave it my all and played the first two sets really well I think, just couldn’t quite close it out.
"The third set he just came into his own and put me under enormous pressure. Unfortunately I didn’t have an answer today.
"I’m really happy with how I played, it’s the best that I’ve done against Feng. He’s been a role model of mine since I was aged 11 and I’m just grateful for the experience and the opportunity to play in front of a big crowd and my family and friends."
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