Bethell hails 'surreal' moment as Jurgen Klopp watches opening match

Dan Bethell had a memorable start to his Paris 2024 campaign as the Para badminton star was watched on by former Liverpool football manager Jurgen Klopp.

The 28-year-old was playing Klopp’s close friend Wojtek Czyz of New Zealand in the opening group game of the men’s singles.

Bethell, the second seed, dominated the SL3 contest, winning 21-5 21-2 as he seeks to upgrade his silver from Tokyo 2020.

“I found out he was watching just before I went on which was a bit of a surreal moment,” Bethell said.

“I wasn’t expecting it. It’s amazing for someone of that calibre in the sporting world to be here at the Paralympics supporting Para badminton.

“I heard him yelling out ‘well done Dan’ and I got a thumbs up from him as well which was really special, a surreal moment.

“It’s another thing I’ll always remember about this Paralympics. I don’t have a football team as I’m not the biggest football fan. I’m a Bath Rugby fan. I do follow football enough to hold a conversation but my main sport is rugby.

“I don’t normally expect my games to have that additional level of interest, but it’s amazing.

“It’s a big reason why I wanted to get into elite sport to have this attention on the sport and have these moments makes it all the more special and all the more memorable.”

Bethell won ParalympicsGB’s first-ever medal in Para badminton when the sport made its debut at the Games three years ago.

He lost out to India’s Pramod Bhagat in the final in Tokyo, but his great rival Bhagat is not competing in Tokyo having been banned for 18 months for whereabout failures.

The four-time European champion sits second in the world rankings and the seedings behind another Indian shuttler, Kumar Nitesh.

Klopp said: “Congratulations to Daniel, I think that’s what he deserves. He played a really good game.

“Wojtek played badminton, unfortunately, against one of the best in the world. obviously that makes life not easy, but I could enjoy each second and each point. I celebrated each point, all five!

“I always watch Para badminton. If you can, try to find Paralympics on the TV. Nowadays, it should be easy with all the streaming.

“I think we are all ready to watch much more than we show. I understand that TV thinks that broadcasting is a business 100% but I think we should show much more.

“It’s so encouraging, so wonderful, the stories.”

Bethell goes again in the group stages on Friday, taking on Daisuke Fujihara of Japan at 8:50 BST.