Ilaria Renggli (24) crowned her Paralympics debut with bronze in the women's singles badminton. "I'm tired, exhausted, but extremely happy," says the Aargau native.
02.09.2024, 20:55
02.09.2024, 21:13
SDA
The last few days were exhausting. Ilaria Renggli played nine matches in singles and doubles over five days - in an atmosphere she had never experienced before. In the bronze medal match against Yuma Yamazaki from Japan (21:13, 21:14), she was able to overcome her fatigue: "I said to myself: It's my last match and I'll give it my all again. After that comes the vacations."
Ilaria Renggli earned her medal and her vacation: she was placed in an extremely difficult group in the preliminary round. She had to eliminate the 2022 world champion to progress. She then defeated the number 3 seed. The only defeats she suffered were against Li Hongyan from China - and she also did extremely well in these two matches. Renggli is now the world's best para-badminton player outside of China - and "that sounds pretty special".
Renggli has only been playing wheelchair badminton since 2020. However, the former gymnast has made incredible progress in such a short time. National coach Marc Lutz looks back on the last few days: "If someone had said a week ago that Ilaria (Renggli) would get through the group and maybe win one more match, we would have signed up. But she has made an incredible improvement. That's her strength: when it counts, she delivers."
One thing is clear: Ilaria Renggli is only at the beginning of her career and her opponents will have to dress warmly for Los Angeles in four years' time. The national coach puts it this way: "She still has a lot of potential to improve."
