Top 15 for Simón Cruz in the International of Ireland

The jienense was the only one of the four Spaniards who accessed the final table in the individual competition. Marcela Quinteros, female doubles quarterfinalist.

Jesús Ortiz / dxtadaptado.com

The Spanish para-badminton team continues its journey on the world circuit with the difficult challenge of classifying an athlete for the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games. In the fourth international tournament of the season, Simón Cruz was the only one to access the main draw in the individual test to finish in the Top 15, Marcela Quinteros reached the quarterfinals in the women’s doubles, while Francisco Motero and Iván Segura did not pass the group stage.

In SL3, Simón Cruz added 50 more points to establish himself among the 13 best in the world in one of the toughest and most demanding categories. The Jaén, who has seven European medals in his record (one gold, three silver and three bronzes) and one silver in a World Cup, left Dublin with a bittersweet flavor “because he arrived with the intention of making a leap in quality and getting into in the quarterfinals, but for now it is not my place, it is very expensive ”.

He beat Scottish Colin Leslie 21-15 and 22-20 and then comfortably beat Canadian William Roussy 21-7 and 21-10. In the third meeting of the group stage, they gave up 13-21 and 19-21 with the Japanese Daisuke Fujihara, number four in the world. In the second round, he faced the Indian Umesh Vikram Kumar but lost 12-21 and 14-21.

“In the first set I came out cold and a little tired, the three games on the first day were very close and they took my toll. In the second set I did play much better but it couldn’t be. He is a very strong player, they are athletes who dedicate themselves professionally to badminton. Even so I am happy, it is the third tournament that I pass to the final table ”, added the Andalusian, who in the mixed doubles SL3-SU5 formed a pair with the Portuguese Beatriz Monteiro and lost both games.

In the WH2 category (wheelchair athletes), Marcela Quinteros continues her fight to get a ticket for Tokyo 2020, although the options are remote. The Valencian, who in the tournaments of Turkey, Dubai and Canada had signed a Top 8, this time could not get past the group stage after reaping a victory against the French Emmanuelle Ott (21-13 and 21-7) and two defeats with the Japanese Rie Ogura (21-19, 14-21 and 13-21) and with the Peruvian Pilar Jaurequi (16-21 and 7-21).

In the women’s doubles with the Austrian Henriett Koosz, she did slip into the top eight after winning (21-17, 17-21 and 21-16) the Canadian Yuka Chokyu and the Peruvian Jaurequi, although they lost with the Japanese Ikumi Fuke and Ogura 12-21 and 7-21 in the group stage, and in quarters with the Swiss Cynthia Mathez and Karin Suter-Erath, current champions of Europe (19-21 and 19-21), in a highly contested match.

For his part, Francisco Motero (WH1) was third in his group with a victory over the Greek Georgios Papadopoulos (21-7 and 21-9) and two defeats against the German Young-Chin Mi (10-21 and 6-21) and the English David Follet (21-15, 11-21 and 12-21). And in SS6, the Granada-born Iván Segura made his international debut in Ireland although the results did not accompany him as he did not pass the group stage in singles, men’s doubles and mixed doubles, but he left good feelings in his first experience in a tournament high level.

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