Liverpool’s Rachel Choong has crashed out of the women’s singles in the 2022 BWF Para Badminton World Championships in Tokyo.

Choong lost to world number 1, Giuliana Poveda Flores in the quarter-finals. All is not lost though as Choong and mixed doubles partner, Jack Shephard have progressed on to the semi-finals in their discipline.

The former world WS champion spoke to Mersey Sport Live before the tournament, saying she felt the standard of women’s singles has dramatically improved: “If we do face each other, I hope that I can give her a better match than I did in 2019 as I was suffering with a back injury and felt like I couldn’t give it my all.”

Choong came up against Flores on Thursday and lost 21-15, 21-6 in a game that lasted 22 minutes. In an Instagram post, she said: “I went into the match wanting to improve on my performance from when we last faced each other earlier this year in Canada. Although it’s not reflected in the score, I feel like I did that so I’m happy enough.” The respect is clear between the two as Choong went on to wish Flores well.

The search for gold is not yet over for the 28-year-old. Together with Shephard, they scraped through to the semi-finals after an intense 34-minute battle against Thai pair, Natthapong Meechai and Chai Saeyang. The English pair won 23-21 and 21-19 and will face Subhan Subhan and Rina Marlina in the next round for the second time, who they lost to on day 3. In a tweet, Choong said: “Tomorrow we’ll face the Indonesians again as we hope to get our revenge from the group match and book our place in the final!”

Women’s Singles Roundup

It was a bumpy ride to the WS quarter-finals for Choong. The 2019 silver medallist lost her opening game to Marlina before coming back from a set down to edge out Peru’s Rubi Vargas the next day. Choong narrowly lost the first set and went on to win the next one 21-14. In the rubber set, she showed her grit to win 21-19. Making it to the round of 16, Choong then beat Egypt’s Yasmina Eissa before being drawn to rival, Flores.

Mixed Doubles Roundup

Choong and Shephard also dropped only one game in the XD group stages. In their final round robin match, Choong came up against Marlina once again, but with her partner Subhan this time. The English pair lost to the Indonesians in two straight sets.

It did not matter though as they had secured their spot in the knockouts by winning their first two matches. In the opener, Choong and Shephard thumped Niall McVeigh and Rosa Turin in 19 minutes in a comfortable 21-6, 21-7 matchup. They then went on to defeat Hong Kong’s Chun Yim Wong and Lam Ching Yung in a more difficult clash. Lasting 40 minutes, the players were forced into a rubber set when Chun and Lam fought their way back in the second match after losing the first. The third set ended 21-13 to Choong and Shephard.

The two will take on Subhan and Marlina once more in their bid to reach the finals on 5th November, 12am GB time.

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