Shephard delight at para-badminton world title defence

Jack Shephard didn’t take long to put down his latest world gold and switch his focus to next year’s Paralympics.

With exactly one year to go until the Games, where para-badminton will make its debut, Shephard defended his men’s SS6 world title with a confident 21-17, 21-10 victory over Chum Yim Wong in Basel.

“It’s a great feeling, especially ahead of qualification for Tokyo. To win the World Championships twice in a row is a great feeling, I’m speechless about it,” he said.

“It’s now back into training for me, there are a few more tournaments ahead in qualifying year – it’s about working hard and make sure I can qualify for Tokyo 2020.”

Rachel Choong was edged out 21-9, 21-19 in the women’s SS6 final by Carmen Poveda Flores but was back on court just minutes later to win the mixed doubles with Andrew Martin.

They defeated fellow Brits Rebecca Bedford, who partnered Choong to women’s doubles success 24 hours earlier, and Robert Laing, taking gold 21-15, 21-13.

“It feels amazing, I’m really happy with the performance I had this week, I felt I gave it my best,” said Choong.

“It was tough, I had 13 matches in six days so it was tough on the body, but I’m happy to leave with the two golds and one silver medal.

“It’s been a fantastic Championships. I really appreciate the minor details that they’ve put into this competition and it’s made a difference, people are getting to see us everywhere.

“It’s been a tough week so the next thing is getting the body on order and we can see where we go from there.”

Elsewhere, Daniel Bethell claimed another British medal after he was narrowly beaten by Indian top seed Pramod Bhagat 6-21, 21-14, 21-5 in the men’s SL3 final.

“It feels really good, it’s my first World Championship final so it was a really good experience for me,” he said.

“I felt really good all week, I’m a little bit disappointed because once you reach the final, the goal is to become world champion so it is bitter-sweet.”