Shilton and Karabardak assured of Paralympic medal

Billy Shilton and Paul Karabardak’s dream of adding Paralympic gold to the world title they won two years ago is still alive after they came through their men’s class 14 quarter-final to guarantee a medal.

They beat the Para Panamerican silver medallists Paulo Salmin and Israel Stroh from Brazil 3-1 but there was heartbreak for Will Bayley and Martin Perry who lost a close match to the European champions from France in a tense deciding set.

Shilton and Karabardak started slowly and lost the first set 11-7 but took the second 11-9. The third set proved crucial as after leading 9-5 they had to fight to take it 11-9 before securing a 3-1 win, 11-5 in the fourth.

“To win that match we had to be on top,” said Karabardak.

“So, to have such a slow start made it really hard but to regroup and come out and play the way we did was superb. We held our nerve and did what we needed to do in the end - we focused really well, and it was a performance we can be proud of.”

“It was massive to win the third set,” said Shilton. “At 9-9 I was thinking if I can just receive the ball short to Stroh’s forehand – we spoke about it beforehand so it was a perfect situation and really important we won that third set.”

In Saturday’s semi-final they play Rungroj Thainiyom and Phisit Wangphonphathanasiri from Thailand who they beat to win the world title in Spain.

“I don’t think we’ve finished yet,” said Shilton.

“Paul said about five minutes after we’d won ‘go for gold now’ and we genuinely believe that we can win gold. I think we are one of the best teams in the world so it’s great that we’re going to have another opportunity to prove it tomorrow.”

“It’s the biggest event of them all,” said Karabardak, “and the biggest stage so to have another Paralympic medal is really special. It’s hard to describe but I think it is the ultimate achievement for an athlete, so I think it sums up what it means.”