15 May, 2023
England’s Para badminton team were unable to cap the perfect ending to a thrilling weekend as Daniel Bethell was forced to retire during his final of the Thailand Para Badminton International 2023.
Bethell had surged into the final of the SL3 men’s singles and was narrowly beaten 21-18 in the first set against Pramod Bhagat before retiring to leave the Indian victorious.
After a pair of convincing wins in the group stage, Bethell progressed past three of Bhagat’s countrymen, conceding no more than 14 points in a set along the way.
But he was unable to complete the final on Sunday, leaving Bhagat to win the first of two golds over the weekend before grabbing a second in the SL3 SL4 men’s doubles.
Jack Shephard was also in men’s singles action and progressed to the quarter-finals of the SH6 event before Charles Noakes of France emerged victorious 21-12 18-21 21-12.
The quarter-finals were also where the journey ended for Rachel Choong, who was beaten 21-8 21-8 in the SH6 women’s singles by eventual winner Shuangbo Lin of China.
Shephard and Choong teamed up for mixed doubles action and despite a pleasing 21-8 21-11 victory in their second match against Chun Yim Wong and Ching Yung Lam of Hong Kong, defeats in their two other games saw them exit at the group stage.
The final English representative in Southeast Asia was Krysten Coombs, who started his week with an exhilarating 21-19 22-20 victory over Daesung Lee of South Korea.
Despite defeat in his final pool game against Miles Krajewski of the United States, Coombs progressed to the SH6 round of 16 stage where he was beaten 21-8 21-14 by Qatar’s Subhan Subhan.
The team will now look ahead to the Bahrain Para Badminton International event, which starts on Wednesday, where Choong and Shephard were among the medals 12 months ago.
