20 August, 2023
Jack Shephard roared to a blinding double gold on the ultimate day of the European Para Badminton Championships in Rotterdam.
Dan Bethell and Rachel Choong have been additionally amongst the winners on the Rotterdam Ahoy, as the English squad claimed a 10-strong medal haul.
Within the SH6 combined doubles ultimate, Shephard and Choong struck gold.
The pair beat compatriot Krysten Coombs, who had teamed up with Poland’s Oliwia Szmigiel, 21-16, 21-11 within the ultimate, the second time the pairs had come up towards one another within the event.
Identified for the power of their partnerships, Shephard and Choong wanted simply 28 minutes to safe the win.
Shephard went on so as to add to his golden assortment with a dramatic victory over France’s Charles Noakes within the SH6 males’s singles.
A tricky match, the 26-year-old battled onerous to take the win 23-21, 17-21, 22-20.
Shephard was pressured right into a decider by Noakes, who produced a superb second sport efficiency, however it was the Englishman who got here out on prime.
Coombs and Isaac Maison each clinched bronze in the identical occasion.
Choong was additionally pressured into a 3rd set in her SH6 girls’s singles ultimate however was unable to beat Szmigiel within the battle for gold.
The world quantity 4 gained the opener 21-11 earlier than dropping the second sport 21-15.
In an exhilarating third, Szmigiel obtained her revenge for the doubles ultimate and clinched a 21-18 win to take the gold while Choong needed to accept silver.
Bethell continued to show his power as world primary with an unimaginable victory within the SL3 males’s singles.
The Olympic silver medallist triumphed over Ukraine’s Oleksandr Chyrkov in Rotterdam, comfortably successful 21-4, 21-12.
It was a strong efficiency for Bethell, who grabbed 13 consecutive factors in his first sport to set the tone.
Bethell had earlier crushed fellow Englishman William Smith 21-7, 21-11 within the semi-final, Smith grabbing bronze with the loss earlier than clinching a silver medal within the SL3-SL4 males’s doubles alongside Sweden’s Rickard Nilsson.
Within the males’s SU5, Robert Donald had a superb run to the semi-final earlier than dropping out to Poland’s Bartlomiej Mroz.
Donald fought again within the first sport however misplaced 21-14, 21-10 in Rotterdam, clinching a bronze medal so as to add to England’s medal haul
Donald clinched a second bronze after dropping out within the males’s doubles semi-final alongside Sean O’Sullivan.
