A golden friendship: with Lucas Mazur in the SL4 category and Charles Noakes (SH6), para-badminton offered two gold medals to the French delegation by setting the Arena Porte de la Chapelle alight on Monday evening.
With these 10th and 11th Paralympic titles, the French team is already doing as well as it did three years ago in Tokyo, even though there are five days of competition left.
Very good friends in life, the two athletes, with different trajectories, experienced a similar fate on Monday evening in an overheated room.
Lucas Mazur got the evening off to a perfect start, with the serenity that his stature as reigning Paralympic champion gave him. In his category reserved for standing athletes, with a disability affecting a lower limb but able to run, the triple world champion “set the record straight” in his words, after a disappointing bronze medal at the World Championships in February.
The winner of Tokyo dispatched his Indian opponent Suhas Lalinakere Yathiraj in two controlled sets from start to finish (21-9, 21-13).
“In my wildest dreams, I never imagined this,” he said, admitting that he had difficulty enjoying his Japanese victory in a room that was desperately empty due to the Covid pandemic.
The 26-year-old started his day in the best possible way, winning the mixed doubles bronze medal match alongside Faustine Noël.
Before standing to attention on the podium to sing La Marseillaise, he played with the audience throughout his match, haranguing the crowd to never let up.
But for him, as for the supporters of the Blues, the evening was far from over. While waiting for his medal, Mazur was already thinking about his comrade, a year older than him, with whom he trains regularly.
“He’s like a little brother to me, he’s been in the shadows and he deserves the spotlight today,” said this Toulouse FC supporter.
And Charles Noakes didn’t need to be asked twice to take this light.
– “First tournament” –
Uncompromising during the SH6 category tournament, for small male athletes, the Nantais continued his momentum, achieving the feat of finishing the competition without losing a single set.
“This is the first tournament he has won, and he is doing it here,” his coach, Mourad Amrani, was amazed, even though Noakes only started playing badminton five years ago.
Facing the British Krysten Coombs, “Charly” had to fight to pocket the first set with a shot sent from an improbable angle, after having let two set points slip away.
With the lead now in place, Noakes continued to push the pace in style, unleashing some superb shots.
The 27-year-old from Nantes gradually raised the level and the temperature in front of an already overheated crowd. Showing himself to be stronger, Noakes displayed all his panoply to distance himself.
Once the victory was secured (21-19, 21-13), he took off his tricolor jersey, grabbing a French flag to celebrate the first title of his career.
“This is one of the happiest days of my life (…), I’ve been working 35 hours a week for five years, for just one moment, this one,” Noakes said emotionally.
fby/hpa
