After a successful week in Vitoria with exciting Para Badminton, a Level 1 tournament is now taking place in Toledo, Spain.
Here we will take a look at the biggest stars from the tournament, with a special focus on the top European players.
The first day of the tournament featured over 90 top matches, and Wednesday's matches will see more than 80 of the world's best Para badminton players in action. Among them is Paralympic winner and world-ranked No. 1, Sarina Satomi from Japan, who clinched two gold medals last week in women’s singles and women’s doubles. Also competing is WH1 men’s singles world number one, Daiki Kajiwara, who secured a gold medal last week in men’s singles.
From Europe we have Paralympic medalist Helle Sofie Sagøy who also won a gold medal last week in the women’s singles and will look to make it back-to-back gold this week in Toledo.
We also have triple gold-medalist Lucas Mazur who is unsurprisingly seeded as number one in both men's singles and mixed doubles with his partner Faustine Noel. If he can take home another two gold medals, that will be an incredible athletic feat that will look good on an already decorated legacy.
Daniel Bethell from England in the SL 3 men’s singles category will try to secure his first championship of 2024. He has a 9-0 8-0 9-0 head-to-head scoreline against his three nearest competitors in the seedings. He is expected to win, hopefully the pressure won’t get in his head and he will be able to bring another medal home for England and Europe.
Also in contention is Man-Kei To from Belgium, who clinched a gold medal in the WH1 mixed doubles category the previous week. Now competing in WH1 women's singles, she is seeded number two and faces the formidable Sarina Satomi, who holds a 15-0 record against her. Despite the challenge, Man-Kei To is determined to give her all to secure a medal.