Jack Shephard and Rachel Choong led the British contingent at the Spanish Para Badminton International with a brilliant run to the final.
Competing together in the mixed doubles SH6 event, the pair beat Ivan Segura and Oliwia Szmigiel in the round robin stage before dispatching Marco Zwillus and Julia Schramm of Germany 21-1 21-2 in their next match.
Shephard and Choong received a bye during the quarterfinals but went on to claim victory over Segura and Szmigiel again, 21-11 21-8, in the last four.
India’s Krishna Nagar and Nithya Sre Sumathy Sivan lay in wait in the final and they proved too strong on the day, triumphing 21-14 21-11.
Choong also reached the semif-inals of the women’s singles SH 6 event. She beat Poland’s Daria Bujnicka 18-21 21-9 21-19 in her first match and then overcame Choi Wing Kei and Wu Yu-Yen in straight sets 21-9 21-4 and 28-26 21-10 respectively.
Choong got a bye through the quarter-finals before losing 23-21 21-17 to Szmigiel to end her battling run.
Shephard’s efforts in the men’s singles SH 6 event saw him reach the quarter-finals before suffering a 21-13 21-13 defeat to American Miles Krajewski.
The Englishman had earlier beaten Josef Stehlik 21-0 21-5 and lost to Paralympic champion Charles Noakes 21-14 21-13 en route to the knockout stages.
Elsewhere, English pair Curnow Pirbhai-Clarke and William Smith made the men’s doubles SL3 quarter-finals after a 21-13 21-15 win over Teddy Ferrazza and Thomas Numitor in the round robin stage before eventually falling to India’s Jagadesh Dilli and Naveen Sivakumar 21-12 21-9.
Smith enjoyed a deep run in the men’s singles SL3 event. A 21-3 21-7 win over Sweden’s Erik Soderdahl helped him into the knockout rounds.
He then beat doubles partner Pirbhai-Clarke 21-18 21-10 in the last 16. His run ended with a 21-18 21-14 defeat to Manoj Sarkar of India.
Emma Louise Stoner also competed in three different events and picked up a 21-14 21-8 victory over Portuguese Inoi Ferreira in the round-robin stage before successive defeats prevented her from reaching the knockout rounds.
