As many as eight out of the 15 standing finals at the HULIC DAIHATSU BWF Para Badminton World Championships 2022 will feature Indonesian players.

The Indonesians shone on semifinals day, dominating the standing doubles categories in particular with Fredy Setiawan, Khalimadus Sadiyah, Rina Marlina and Dheva Anrimusthi to feature in multiple finals.

Marlina and her mixed doubles SH6 partner Subhan combined to outplay the English pair of Jack Shephard and Rachel Choong 21-8 21-12 to set up a gold medal clash with Nilton Quispe Ignacio and Giuliana Poveda of Peru.

Poveda, who was a bronze medallist at the previous World Championships in the mixed doubles SH6 at Basel 2022, has had an excellent run in Tokyo herself.

She will feature in three different finals with the aim of adding to her gold medal from the singles event three years ago.

Defending men’s doubles SU5 champions Anrimusthi and Hafizh Briliansyah Prawiranegara of Indonesia will take on the previous edition’s bronze medallists Cheah Liek Hou and Mohamed Faris Ahmad Azri, with both teams accounting for Indian pairs in straight games in the semis.

Anrimusthi and Paralympic champion Liek Hou will then lock horns in the men’s singles SU5 final.

The women’s singles SL3 category will see a new world champion, as Ukraine’s Oksana Kozyna defeated defending champion and world No.1 Manasi Joshi 21-18 21-18.

Her finals opponent, 2019 bronze medallist Halime Yildiz of Turkey, eased past former world champion Parul Dalsukhbhai Parmar 21-11 21-6.

Indian top seeds in the men’s singles SL3 and women’s singles SU5, defending champion Pramod Bhagat and teenager Manisha Ramadass, kept the hopes for gold medals alive on an otherwise disappointing day for the country, with a number of their players having to settle for bronze.

Bhagat, who beat Japan’s Daisuke Fujihara 22-20 21-14 will take on countryman Nitesh Kumar for gold.

“I’ve played against Pramod many times before, and he has a pattern which is typical of him, where tends to reserve himself for the majority of the game and brings out the more powerful strokes towards the end,” Fujihara said of Pramod.

Do yourself a favour and take the next 1️⃣3️⃣0️⃣ seconds to watch this 1️⃣0️⃣3️⃣ shot rally between 🇮🇳 @PramodBhagat83 and Daisuke Fujihara 🇯🇵.#Parabadminton #BWFWorldChampionships #Tokyo2022 pic.twitter.com/4YI8PL6scS

— BWF (@bwfmedia) November 5, 2022

Ramadass came out on top against Denmark’s Cathrine Rosengren 21-19 17-21 21-17 and will take on Japan’s Mamiko Toyoda in the final.

“Earlier I used to win in two sets against Cathrine, but after my injury both of our matches including the one in Thailand went to three games,” Ramadass said. “I’m just embracing the positive vibes and working on improving my mistakes.”

WHAT OTHERS SAID

On Guillaume Gailly and Mathieu Thomas of France winning their first BWF World Championships medal in the men’s doubles SL3-SL4 category.

“We are happy. This is the first World Championships medal for both of them. They played a good game in the quarterfinals and they take a lot more experience from here to become better with every match. We are on the right track and the entire French team is happy with this bronze medal.” – French coach Bertrand Louvet

On having to postpone his wedding date owing to the possibility of making the final at the BWF Para Badminton World Championships. He lost in the semifinals a day earlier.

“My wedding day was going to be 6 November but I had to change the date. It didn’t go down very well at first.” – Krysten Coombs

On the secret to winning close three-game matches.

“I believe in luck because for some points they get the shuttle to trickle over the net, which sometimes makes a lot of difference in a close game.” – Manisha Ramadass

On the difference between Japanese players and the rest of the competition.

“Japanese players are generally very by the book, while foreign players move around a lot more on the court. Some players have a lot more power, they are very tall. The Japanese players are of short stature but have a hard-working ethic on court.” – Daisuke Fujihara

→ Results (Day 5)

→ Order of Play (Day 6)