Kim and Lee dominant at home Para badminton Worlds

Jungjun Kim and Sam Seop Lee gave their home fans plenty to celebrate about, as they continued their dominance at the Badminton World Federation (BWF) Para Badminton World Championships 2017, which concluded on Sunday (26 November) in Ulsan, South Korea.

An-all South Korean final in the men’s singles WH 2 pitted Jungjun Kim and Kyung-Hoon Kim for the second straight time. It was Jungjun Kim who proved to still be dominant, defeating his compatriot 21-16 21-19 for his third straight World Championship gold medal.

The men’s singles WH 1 also saw Lee triumph after defeating China’s Qu Zimo 21-10 21-9.

Together, the pair was just as unbeatable. They teamed up in the men’s doubles WH 1-2, facing compatriots Sung Hun Kim and Jung Man Choi. Despite dropping the first set 21-16, Jungjun Kim and Lee cruised in the next two sets 21-10 21-8 to be crowned world champions.

The host country overall saw three gold medals and three silvers. But it was China who topped the medals table with five golds and six silvers.

The women’s singles WH 1 and WH 2 events featured an all-Chinese showdown. Li Hongyan in left with double gold, winning her singles competition in the WH 1, then joining Yang Fan for the win in the women’s doubles WH 1-2. Chinese teen prodigy Liu Yutong powered past compatriot Xu Tingting 21-8 21-11 in the WH 2 final.

Indonesia also stacked up plenty of silverware in Ulsan, led by Ukun Rukaendi, who upset India’s No. 2 seed Manoj Sarkar 15-21, 21-19 21-16 in the men’s singles SL 3. He then joined Hary Susanto to win the men’s doubles SL 3-4 ahead of China’s Chen Xiaoyu and Yang Jianyuang.

Great Britain saw four golds from their athletes as well, three coming from Rachel Choong. Choong repeated her three-gold medal feat from two years ago, winning the women’s singles SS 6 ahead of Peru’s Carmen Giuliana Poveda Flores. She then paired up with Rebecca Bedford to win the women’s doubles SS 6; and then Andrew Martin for the mixed doubles SS 6 titles.

“I’m ecstatic, I can’t believe it. Back in Stoke Mandeville [2015] I was surprised that I had created history by winning three World Championships titles and being the first English player to do so at a single World Championships; so to repeat that, I’m over the moon. I’m just super happy,” Choong said.

The other gold came from Jack Shephard, who survived three match points to get the better of compatriot Krysten Coombs and clinch his first world title in the men’s singles SS 6 .

“I was quite down in the third, I just told myself I had to survive, try to get everything back,” said Shephard. “We know each other’s games well, so I just tried to change my game today. At 17-all he missed a kill and that made a big difference, it gave me momentum and it dropped his head a bit.”

Among the most hotly-contested finals was the men’s singles SU 5 between Malaysia’s defending champion Cheah Liek Hou and Indonesia’s Suryo Nugroho. It was Cheah’s unrelenting accuracy and control extracted the errors from Nugroho to claim the gold: 19-21 21-15 21-18.

Male Para Badminton Player of the Year in 2016, Lucas Mazur from France enjoyed a comfortable 21-18 21-10 result over India’s Tarun Dhillon in the men’s singles SL 4 final.

“I’m very proud and happy. It’s celebration for me, because I’ve been working for four years for this title,” said Mazur. “Two years ago Tarun beat me in the final and today I managed to beat him. There are lots of strong players in all categories from many countries. This World Championships was organised very well, we are very happy, everybody was very helpful.”

Around 270 athletes competed over 22 medals events. Complete results from the BWF Para Badminton World Championships 2017 can be found on the BWF’s website.