Mary Wilson continued her medal streak at the Peru Para-Badminton International in Lima last week. She was the only representative from Scotland and playing all three events, SL4 women’s singles, SL3-SU5 women’s doubles with Danielle De Araujo from Brazil and Raul Anguiano from Guatemala in the SL3-SU5 mixed doubles.
In the Mixed Doubles event Mary and Raul topped their group with two convincing wins before losing out in the quarter finals to 4th seeds and eventual winners Tetsuo Ura and Asami Yamada from Japan.
In the women’s doubles Mary and Danielle secured 2nd place in their group losing out to the Japanese eventual winners Akiko Sugino and Asami Yamada, however with 2 wins and a 2nd place they secured a place in the semi-finals v Cintiya Oliviera and Cassia Araujo from Brazil. IN a tough fought 3 setter Mary and Danielle lost 16-21 21-19 13-21 securing a bronze medal in this event.
Her gold was won by topping the group for the SL4 singles. With three spectacular games and no opponent getting more than 6 points in any set she was able to secure the singles win and her first gold since starting international competitions in Majorca.
Before the tournament Kaity Hall was in Lima running a workshop with BWF working with the AGITOS Foundation. The workshop introduced over 50 new para-badminton athletes to the sport alongside coach education. The athletes were then classified and participated in the tournament.
With Tokyo 2020 only three years away now it is fantastic that we are having success both in the playing and coaching fields within para-badminton.