After a uniformly dismal start, the fortunes of the US Paralympic table tennis team have diversified dramatically. All four lost their opening round matches on Wednesday. Since then, they have gone every which way, including but not limited to loose. Michael Godfrey failed to emerge from his qualifying group in Men's Class 1, succumbing in his last-chance match to Italy's Andrea Borgato, three games to one. Tahl Leibovitz fared better, graduating from his group in Men's Class 9. In the quarterfinals, however, Leibovitz fell 11-9 in the deciding fifth game to Ivan Mai of Ukraine, only two points from the medals guaranteed all semifinalists. Jenson Van Emburgh rallied heroically, reaching the Men's Class 3 semifinals, guaranteeing at least bronze. There, the world #10 Van Emburgh met his match in world #1 Feng Panfeng of China. The future is assuredly bright for Van Emburgh, winning his first Paralympic medal at only 21. On the subject of youthful medalists, the youngest Team USA member has played like the most seasoned veteran. The 20-year-old Ian Seidenfeld (pictured, left), ranked 15th in the world, has reached the finals of the Men's Class 5 finals. Tomorrow, Seidenfeld will get a chance to avenge his 3-2 opening-round loss to Peter Rosenmeier, the world #2 from Denmark. Guaranteed at least a silver, Seidenfeld no doubt would prefer to bite into the most precious medal on offer, just as his father and coach Mitchell Seidenfeld did at the 1992 Paralympics. Although it started out bleak across the board, all four players responded in very different ways. With two medals already in the bag for Team USA, Ian Seidenfeld now has an opportunity to complete the amazing turnaround. A golden opportunity.

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