Helle Sofie Sagoy announced as Denmark International SL4 women’s singles champion today in Odense

The world number three Helle Sofie Sagoy has battled through a tough week in Odense, at the 2019 Denmark Para badminton International. 

A round-robin format in the SL4 women’s singles meant the eventual winner would be decided before finals’ day this week. With the absence of Leani Ratri Oktila (INA) and Cheng Hefang (CHN), the top two players in the world, Sagoy had a clear run at the title.

The Norwegian was on track after two straight games wins earlier in the week, but Germany’s Katrin Seibert caused problems for the European champion, who eventually came through 21-16 in the third game to stay in top spot.

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It would be an honour to get to the Paralympics

The top two seeds were scheduled to play last in the round-robin format. Sagoy versus Japan’s Haruka Fujino. 

Helle Sofie Sagoy made an impressive start, taking the first game 21-11 and looked in control of the match, and the title. The second was littered with errors and Norway’s golden girl was suddenly in trouble when she lost the game 13-21.

The deciding game could have gone either way, and with Fujino also without a loss this week, the winner of the game would take the gold medal. Sagoy came through and looked relieved at the 23-21 score line. We caught up with the Norwegian after the match who had this to say:

- It was a tough week! I am happy to get through it and come out on top.

- I started the match well, but made errors against Fujino in the second game and then struggled to close out the match in the third, she added.

- Of course it is everyone’s goal to get to Tokyo next year. It would be an honour to get to the 2020 Paralympics. I am working hard and fighting hard to get there, said Sagoy.

It is finals’ day tomorrow, for a full list of the Denmark Para badminton International 2019 schedule and results, see tournament software here.