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Paralympics 2024 – Badminton: At 60, Thomas Wandschneider qualifies for the semi-finals
At 60 years old, German badminton player Thomas Wandschneider won the longest match in the history of the Paralympic Games on Saturday August 31 against Chinese Yang Tong.
(France 2)
Winner of his second group match in 1h43, the badminton player has already qualified for the quarter-finals of the Paralympic tournament.
A victory of all proportions. Aged 60, the German badminton player Thomas Wandschneider was already breaking records by lining up in Paris, in the singles and doubles events of parabadminton (category WH1, players with a disability in the legs and trunk). On Saturday 31 August, he distinguished himself by winning the longest match in the history of his discipline at the Paralympic Games, in an Arena Porte de la Chapelle won over to his cause. It took the German 1 hour and 43 minutes to defeat the Chinese Yang Tong (24-22, 12-21, 21-16). A victory obtained through experience, against a player thirty-six years his junior…
With two wins in as many matches played, Thomas Wandschneider is already assured of playing in the semi-finals of the competition. Double world champion (individual and double) in 2005, and six times European champion in individual (2006, 2008, 2012, 2014, 2016, 2018), he will try to win his first Paralympic medal in Paris.