20 June, 2023
Dan Bethell claimed SL3 men’s singles gold at the Canada Para Badminton International, while Jack Shephard and Rachel Choong also took home medals from Ottawa.
Bethell started his week in fine fashion, with comprehensive group stage victories over Dillaswar Rao Gadela and Umesh Vikram Kumar seeing the top seed safely into the knockout competition.
And he kept his strong form going in the last eight, dispatching Manoj Sarkar 22-20 21-8 to seal a semi-final spot.
Bethell faced a tough last four encounter against Daisuke Fujihara, and the two pushed each other to the brink in a mammoth contest.
But it was the English star who prevailed, claiming a 21-15 17-21 21-15 win to reach the final.
The final ultimately proved a much more straightforward affair, with Bethell easing past Pramod Bhagat 21-12 21-13 to strike gold.
Also in action on finals Sunday was Shephard, who had undertaken a strong SH6 men’s singles campaign in the Canadian capital.
The second seed started his campaign with group stage victories against rising star Miles Krajewski and Yohei Hatakeyama, which saw him progress to the quarter-finals.
Shephard defeated Hector Jesus Salva Tunque 21-5 21-5 to comprehensively reach the semi-final, where he faced Frenchman Charles Noakes.
And the English star needed all his grit and determination to win that contest, edging his way to a 21-16 18-21 21-18 victory to set up a final versus Krishna Nagar.
On the day it was Nagar who was the better player, defeating the Englishman 21-18 21-16, though there were still plenty of positives for Shephard to take.
Shephard also medalled in the mixed doubles event alongside Choong, the pairing making it all the way to the final four.
Having not dropped a game in their opening pool matches to reach the knockout competition, third seeds Shephard and Choong impressed as they beat Salva Tunque and Rubi Milagros Fernandez Vargas 21-3 21-8 to seal a semi-final spot.
The English pairing came up against Sivarajan Solaimalai and Nithya Sre Sumathy Sivan in the last four, with the Indian pairing prevailing 21-18 10-21 21-17 to reach the gold medal match and leaving Shephard and Choong to claim a bronze medal.
Choong also claimed a bronze medal in her singles campaign, which started with two straight-game victories over Cai Yi-Lin and Lam Ching Yung.
Quarter-final action saw her take on Ukraine’s Nina Kozlova, with a 21-9 21-11 victory powering her into the semi-final.
However her campaign then came to a close, with Choong falling 21-15 21-17 to Giuliana Poveda Flores in their last four contest.
Krysten Coombs was also in action, reaching the last eight of the SH6 men’s singles competition.
Coombs began his campaign with group stage victories versus Solaimalai and Wong Chun Yim, before falling 16-21 21-15 21-17 to Nagar in a tough quarter-final.
