A squad of seven went out to Allcudia for the 4th Spanish Para-Badminton International, representing four Para-Badminton Classifications.
3rd-seeded SL4 Mary Wilson came into the competition with the expectation of a bronze medal meeting her singles success from this event last year and coming in as 3rd seed put extra pressure on her to perform. She did not disappoint; coming through her group in second position she faced her French doubles partner Veronique Braud for a place in the semi-finals and a guaranteed bronze medal. In a nail-biting three-setter Mary came out on top with a score line of 21-17, 17-21, 21-19. However, she had to settle for the bronze, losing out to first seeded Katrin Siebert of Germany 12-21, 12-21.
In the doubles and mixed Mary was unable to progress through her group having to pull out of her final game of doubles due to a foot injury.
The second bronze was won by Bobby Laing and Irish doubles partner Andrew Moorcroft in the SS6 Men’s Doubles. Having come out second in their group losing only to the first seeds, the Scots-Irish duo were drawn in the quarter-finals against Rachel Choong and Rebecca Bedford of England where they won 21-12, 21-15, to secure their place in the Semi-Final. This was to be their stopping point losing out in a spot in the final to current World Champions from Honk Kong Man Kai Chu and Chun Yim Wong, 8-21, 8-21 and finishing with a bronze medal.
In the singles Bobby topped his group with two convincing wins, progressing to the 1st round of the knock out where he lost out to Brazilian Vitor Tavares 14-21, 21-23.
In the SL3 Colin Leslie, Scotland’s only competitor in this class, progressed out of his group in second place losing out only to seeded German Pascal Wolter. In the first round of the knock out he was not to be challenged by Englands Mark Waller, winning convincingly and progressing onto the quarter finals, 21-8, 21-4. This victory was to be avenged by Mark’s teammate and 2nd seed Daniel Bethel, with Daniel coming out on top in two sets.
In the SL3+SL4 men’s doubles Colin, playing with England’s Anthony Forester, progressed to the quarter-finals losing out in this round to Thailand and India’s Chawarat Kitchokwattana and Vikram Kumar 14-21, 15-21. Playing in the SL3- SU5 mixed doubles with Megan Hollander from the Netherlands, Colin didn’t make it out of the group stages but not without putting up a fight losing out in 3 sets to final pair of their group.
In the WH2 category Fiona Christie was looking to make her mark in Spain in all three events partnering Laura-Lee Jenkins in the WH1+WH2 ladies doubles and David Follet in the WH1+WH2 mixed doubles. Coming up against tough opponents in the Singles and Ladies Doubles, Fiona failed to reach the knock-out stages, however with a thrilling three-set victory against Russia’s Pavel Popov and Irina Kuzmenko in the mixed doubles, Fiona and David progressed onto the knockout rounds in the mixed doubles. Their journey was cut short here, drawing the number one seeds Jakarin Homhaul and Amnouy Wetwithan, Thailand losing out in two sets.
Also competing in SS6 women’s singles and mixed was Deirdre Nagle, in the SS6 men’s singles and doubles Andrew Davies and in the SL4 mens single’s and doubles Jamie Munro.
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