Faustine Noel is back from injury and back to her best in Thailand.

The French SL4 withdrew from the Para-Badminton World Championships in Basel last month on day one. A road accident that caused an ongoing back problem meant that Noel needed more time to recover. She tried bravely to fight the pain, but the level of competition was too much for the 25-year-old.

Widely regarded as the only potential challengers to the Indonesian world champions, it was a sorry day for Noel and SL3-SU5 mixed doubles partner Lucas Mazur as they withdrew from the event. And fresh from an international final in the women’s doubles also, with teammate Lenaig Morin, it was sad to see Noel watch from the side-lines that week.

Despite being world number five in women’s singles, the French woman is focusing on the mixed and women’s doubles this week, a difficult decision so soon after injury but one that is proving to be a good one.

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I can push for the win and enjoy every moment

Straight games wins so far this week in the mixed doubles with Mazur, today they beat world silver medallists Jan-Niklas Pott and Katrin Seibert (GER) in the quarterfinal 21-12, 21-13, and move onto the semis tomorrow against Japan’s Toshiaki Suenaga and Akiko Sugino.

Unseeded in the SL3-SU5 women’s doubles, they managed to overcome the third seeds Palak Kohli and Parul Parmar (IND) 21-19 in a third game decider in the group stages to progress as group winners.Today’s quarterfinal victory over Zehra Baglar and Halime Yildiz (TUR) is proof that the new French pairing is the real deal. We caught up with Faustine Noel this afternoon:

- I’m really happy just to be here in Thailand. After the World’s I was really worried about my injury, my back problem was complicated so it was difficult to recover quickly. I decided to come at the last minute and have had no training, in fact my first session on court was the practice day here, said Noel.

- I missed badminton so much. It gave me a lot of motivation just to play the game and enjoy it. Fortunately my back has been good this week and that gives me so much confidence that I can push for the win and enjoy every moment, she added.

Day Three Thailand Para-Badminton International 2019 results can be found on tournament software here.