Europe takes 8 gold medals at the Spanish Para-Badminton International
England’s SS6 World Champion Jack Shephard makes it a double-gold in Spain, taking the men’s singles and men’s doubles title. Shephard was once again up against his team mate, training partner and close friend Krysten Coombs in the SS6 men’s singles final. It was a fine performance to win in straight games 21-15, 21-19 in one of the best displays of SS6 singles the world has seen.
“I felt really good today, and I think I put in a great performance in both the men’s singles and doubles. To win gold in both, and to not drop a single game in either competition, I just feel really happy!”
“We’ve Dubai in a few weeks, so I’ll be heading right back home to continue training and hopefully to the same job there. We’ve many tournaments this year, I want to continue this winning streak and show the world who Jack Shephard is. I’d love to win the Euros in France later this year and be able to say that I’m European Champion as well as World Champion”
So that made it Gold and Silver for partner Krysten Coombs in men’s SS6, he had this to say
“It was amazing for me, to come back after losing the singles final to my partner. To then play together and play that well. I don’t really know what we did to be honest, it was awesome! Everything just seemed to work, attack and defence, our patterns, our soft touches. Everything! We lost to that pair (Hong Kong’s Chun Man Kai and Wong Chun Yim) in the World Champs and in Ireland last year, it was very close both times. To beat them in 2 games today feels great!
Read: Tickets available for European Championships
6 players take home the double gold
As well as Shephard, 5 others made it Double-Gold today in Spain. Thailand’s SL4 Siripong Teamarrom took men’s doubles and mixed doubles titles, as well as bronze in the men’s singles. Korea’s Choi Jung Man took the WH1 men’s singles and men’s doubles with partner Kim Jungjun who also took the WH2 men’s singles. Helle Sofie Sagoy of Norway tok the SL4 women’s singles and SL3-SU5 women’s doubles, and Thailand’s Sujirat Pookkham took WH1 women’s singles and WH1-WH2 women’s doubles.
Injured Choong retires from final
One player used to winning-ways is England’s Rachel Choong, but it was not to be today for Choong who has been suffering a back injury over the past 3 months. She and partner Andrew Martin took the SS6 mixed doubles title this morning, however Choong experienced her first ever defeat in International competition today in the singles as she had to retire from the match after Peruvian opponent Carmen Giuliana Poveda Flores had taken the opening game 24-22.
“I’ve been struggling for a while now and was not feeling comfortable in training last week. With the amount of matches I’ve played this tournament, and the intensity of them, it has been causing more and more problems. Yesterday I really struggled. I was pleased to get through the mixed doubles final, but I just couldn’t cover the court as well as I usually can do. I couldn’t get through another game and had to retire in the break”
Europe’s top wheelchair player humble in defeat
Karin Suter-Erath (SUI) dropped her first games of the week in WH1 women’s singles, in the final against Thailand’s Sujirat Pookkham 15-21, 19-21.
“It was a good match, but I wasn’t quite good enough in the second game. I would have loved to at least played a third. I played better than I did in the World Championships and still have a few things I need to improve. She played very well today. I really enjoyed it, the atmosphere was great here… even though I couldn’t win this time. It has been a good start to the year, and I hope I can improve in the next tournaments.”
3 finals for Katrin Seibert
The only player in the tournament with the chance this morning of making it 3 golds, was Germany’s SL4 Katrin Seibert who was number 1 seed in all 3 events. Sadly for Seibert, the Thai’s were too strong in the mixed doubles, but she was able to bounce back and cruise through the women’s doubles final in straight games. One of the last finals of the day was the women’s singles, a battle of wits against her Norweigian women’s doubles partner Sagoy of Norway.
Dubai hosts the next Para-Badminton International tournament, 10th-15th April 2018. Look out for news and updates here as that competition gets underway.
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