Jack Shephard clinched a brilliant pair of medals after enjoying a memorable week at the Para-Badminton World Championships in Tokyo.
The three-time world champion, 25, sealed SH6 men’s singles silver and mixed doubles bronze alongside Rachel Choong to follow up his gold medal heroics in 2015, 2017 and 2019.
Shephard went down to a hard-fought 22-20, 13-21, 22-20 defeat against Chu Man Kai – who beat fellow English star and eventual bronze medallist Krysten Coombs in his semi-final – in the men’s singles final as the Hong Kong star grabbed his maiden world singles title.
And Shephard, who reached his third consecutive singles final in the event, also climbed onto the podium in the mixed doubles after a 21-8, 21-12 semi-final defeat against Indonesian duo Rina Marlina and Subhan Subhan.
Our 🏴 Para Badminton Team is coming home with 1 Silver 🥈 and 2 Bronzes 🥉 🥉
Congratulations to Jack Shephard, Krysten Coombs and Rachel Choong for this amazing result! 🎉 🙌 pic.twitter.com/IlPQnU1R7N
— Badminton England (@BadmintonEnglnd) November 6, 2022
Shephard eased past fellow English star Isaak Dalglish 21-8, 21-13 in his opening men’s singles round to kickstart his campaign in the Japanese capital.
He took three games to claw his way past Indian Sivarajan Solaimalai in the quarter-finals but rediscovered his fluent best to beat Samba star Vitor Tavares 21-14, 22-20 in the last four.
That teed up a tantalising date with Chu, a previous two-time doubles champion, in the final but Shephard fell narrowly short in the decider to seal silver and his ninth World Championship medal.
And he wasn’t the only Englishman on the podium as Coombs banked bronze alongside Brazilian Tavares.
Coombs, a 2015 men’s doubles world champion, toppled Wong Chun Yim and Krishna Nagar before suffering a valiant 21-5, 18-21, 21-9 defeat against Chu.
@JackShephard25 is through to the World Championship final ⭐️ Amazing performance to win in s/f 👏
It wasn’t to be for @rach_choong & @JackShephard25 in the mixed or @krysten_coombs in the other singles s/f – they leave Tokyo with Bronze medals 🥉 🥉 Well done team 👏 pic.twitter.com/GaH9QtHgGO— Parabadminton GB (@ParabadmintonGB) November 5, 2022
England’s SH6 men’s singles successes marked two of three medals won by the nation’s stars at the competition after Shephard and Choong, 28, has beaten Nattapong Meechai and Chai Saeyang to secure a podium finish in the SH6 mixed doubles event.
The English duo won 23-21, 21-19 to triumph in their opening clash before going down to a two-game defeat against Marlina and Subhan.
And Choong was also in action in the SH6 women’s singles event, where she was denied a shot at a medal after a two-game defeat against Giuliana Poveda Flores.
Choong, a 10-time world champion, beat Egyptian Yasmina Eissa 21-11, 21-12 in her first round before losing 21-15, 21-6 in her quarter-final.
Elsewhere, fellow English stars Bobby Griffin and Emma Louise Stoner were unable to book their place in a SL3–SU5 mixed doubles semi-final as they suffered a 5-21, 2-21 defeat against Indonesia pair Fredy Setiawan and Khalimatus Sadiyah.
And in the SL3 men’s singles event, Will Smith went down to a 21-8, 21-12 defeat against Indian ace Kumar Nitesh in the quarter-finals.
