Five European hopefuls featured on day six of the Brazilian Para badminton international 2020, yet gold medals remain elusive in Sao Paulo.

It was not very long ago when European medalists were more common on finals day at Para badminton events than our able-bodied counterparts, taking around fifty percent of the titles on average.

The Brazil 2020 international may mark a turning of the tides in Para badminton, with a shift towards Asian dominance and possibly the first time that Europe have taken as few as one gold medal.

Turkey’s Halime Yildiz claims the only gold medal, for SL3 women’s singles, beating world number one Parul Parmar 21-9, 21-14. There were plenty of other surprises and upsets throughout the day.

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The first shock came when World Champion and world number one Leani Ratri Oktila (INA) was defeated by Chenh Hefeng (CHN) in the SL4 women’s singles final. Then Lucas Mazur (FRA) lost out narrowly to India’s Suhas Yathiraj, both matches going the distance.

Whilst Brazil celebrate a huge win in SH6 men’s singles in the form of Vitor Tavares, who beat World Champion Jack Shephard yesterday, today he beat world number one Krishna Nagar to claim his first international title. 

Yet SU5 men’s singles hosted the performance of the day, with the return of a Malaysian who needs no introduction.

Cheah back on top

Former World Champion Cheah Liek Hou (MAL), the man who dominated the SU5 category in both men’s singles and doubles for so many years, was back to his former winning ways on a singles court today as he finally managed to undo the tidy defences of Indonesia’s Dheva Anrimusthi.

The current world number one has a truly incredible head-to-head ranking of 90 wins and just 2 losses in his Para badminton career, being defeated just once in singles and once in men’s doubles before today.

The 21-15, 10-21, 21-16 win edges Cheah that bit closer to Anrimusthi in the Race to Tokyo, and adds to his wins in Japan, Denmark and Thailand late last year, to set up a fascinating finale to the run up to the Paralympic Games.

Look out for updates from the Peru Para badminton International 2020 which follows next week, see tournament software here for draws and results.