Egyptian shuttlers dominated the African Para Badminton Championships 2022 on the weekend in Kampala, Uganda, winning outright half of the 18 categories contested.
Mohamed Rashad Ahmed led with three gold medals, his triumphs coming in WH1 men’s singles, WH1-WH2 men’s doubles alongside Omar Gaber Ahmed and mixed doubles (Shaimaa Samy Ab D Ellatif).
Ellatif, who won one gold at her competition debut – also in Kampala four years ago – did better this time as she also aced WH1-WH2 women’s doubles with Ivorian partner Douayra Prisca Marie Trey and successfully defended her singles title after winning all her matches to top the group.
Egypt’s other gold medals came in SL4 (Sherine Adel Fahmy) and SH6 women’s singles (Yasmina Eissa), SL3-SL4 men’s doubles (Walid Abdelghany Elsaied/Joun Khaled Lotfy) and SL3-SU 5 mixed doubles (Elsaied/Fahmy).
For the host nation, Tokyo 2021 Paralympian Ritah Asiimwe and Elizabeth Mwesigwa contributed two gold medals each. Asiimwe succeeded in SU5 women’s singles while Mwesigwa won in SL3. They also combined to take SL3-SU5 women’s doubles crown.
Ivory Coast and Democratic Republic of Congo were the only other nations to produce winners in the 14-team tournament.
The African Para Badminton Championships is returning after four years. It was last contested in 2018 as the 2020 edition got cancelled due to COVID-19 pandemic.