Day one at the Australian Para-Badminton International 2018 has come to a close as over 100 athletes compete in the penultimate competition for the region.
Photo credit: Luis Veniegra Photography
New Zealand’s Corrie Keith Robinson, competing in the men’s singles SL 4 classification, showed grit and determination on court as he faced the first seed from India, Sukant Kadam. The kiwi player eventually lost in three 13-21 21-14 21-15 and later competed in another three-match thriller against En-Chuan Yeh of Chinese Taipei, going down 19-21 21-16 21-12. Nonetheless, the results have helped to boost motivation now that the qualification period for the Tokyo 2020 Paralympics is in sight:
“I had some really great matches today with a close game against the first seed. I’m starting to creep into three sets against the top players which is promising for progress and I hope to continue with these tournaments in the hope of qualifying for the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games” – Corrie Keith Robinson.
David Toupe and Emmanuelle Ott celebrated a brilliant victory against the third seeds from South Korea – Jungjun Kim and Seung Sulk Kim.
“We beat the third seeds which is the best result we could have hoped for”, says Toupe.
The French pair, competing in the mixed doubles wheelchair 1 – 2, won in two close games 22-20 21-18! As the day progressed, they went on to win one and lose one more match which results in a second place group finish and have progressed into the next stage.
More upsets throughout the day came from Noriko Ito from Japan, who defeated the first seed from India, Manasi Girishchandra Joshi 14-21 21-14 21-12 in the women’s singles SL 3 classification. Similarly, ChengChe Lin of Chinese Taipei won against Germany’s Tim Haller (Seeded 3/4) 21-7 21-18.
To view all of the results from the first day of competition, visit Tournament Software.
The action on day two will begin at 9.30am on Friday 23 November, local time. Two courts will be available to watch on OVO, the online live-streaming service, throughout the day – available here.
