27 November, 2023
Rachel Choong claimed her fourth consecutive SH6 women’s singles, mixed doubles and women’s doubles titles at the UK Para Badminton Championships in Glasgow.
An array of English talent was on show in the Scottish city and Choong’s haul made the weekend even sweeter alongside Jack Shephard and Anya Butterworth in the mixed and women’s SH6 doubles.
Shephard also enjoyed individual success, as did Dan Bethell and Emma Stoner, who were among a plethora of English hopefuls claiming a national title.
Choong faced off with Anya Butterworth in the women’s singles SH6 final, taking a 21-13 21-10 win before joining forces in the SH6 exhibition final against Owen Carmichael and Bobby Laing.
The pair cruised to gold with a 21-13 21-15 win, rounding off a superb final day of action after Choong and Shephard took another title in the mixed doubles.
Choong said, “It’s good for us to put our stamp on things. We had good control of the games. What we’ve been doing in training is really coming together and it was nice to put that in place on court today.
“It’s nice to get the first win in the bag for gold medals.”
Shephard carried his doubles triumph into SH6 singles with a 21-8 21-7 win in the final against Isaac Maison.
Brilliant weekend at the UK Para Badminton Championships in Glasgow, Scotland. 🏸🇬🇧
Fourth consecutive women’s singles, mixed doubles and women’s doubles titles! 🔥🏆🥇 pic.twitter.com/wAMyQ6fRlI
— Rach Choong (@rach_choong) November 27, 2023
Martin Rooke also picked up three golds, individually in the men’s singles WH2 and in doubles, partnering Ireland’s Melaine Griffith and Dean McCarthy in the mixed and men’s WH1-2 classifications respectively.
Elsewhere, Dan Bethell fought through three rounds to make it to the SL3 men’s singles final against William Smith and struck gold with a 21-14 21-12 victory.
Jack Wilson emerged victorious in the men’s singles SU5 classification as his run to gold included a hard-fought 21-18 21-14 win over Robert Donald.
In the men’s singles SL4, Antony Forster came out on top against Scots Jamie Munro and James Birchall, and teamed up with Colin Leslie for a win in the men’s doubles SL3-4 classification.
Emma Stoner overcame Mary Wilson and Lauren Whitehouse for the women’s singles SL4-5 title while John Hooper won in the men’s singles LD DIV 2 and partnered Lauren Butler for a mixed doubles win.
Clint Gardner proved strongest in the men’s singles LD DIV 1 despite narrowly missing out on the LD doubles DIV 1 title alongside Hooper.
In the LD doubles 2, Nicholas Niranjan clinched the title in partnership with Dean Bernard.
Para Badminton head coach Rich Morris said, “Scotland put on a great show. We had some old faces still there which is brilliant that they are still involved in the sport.
“We’ve also got some upcoming developing players that are making some real headway as the top youngsters.
“It was great to see everyone on court and I’m looking forward to the fourth UK Para Badminton Championships next year.”
