Badminton. Philipp Discher takes down the favorites at the CEBA international tournament

Warmly congratulated by his partner and their two young children, Philipp Discher can smile. With a headband in his hair, the 35-year-old right-hander outsmarted younger players in the men’s singles N2 category. He first defeated 21-year-old Colmarien Arthus Beaufils, who was seeded second (21-19 in the decider), before taking down the top favorite, 18-year-old Luc Thalmann, in the final.

“I always come with the goal of winning the tournament, but my form has been very variable lately,” admitted the cardiologist surgeon from Fribourg. “When I’m not too tired, I can still compete against guys at this level. Against Arthus, it was really 50-50 towards the end, he could have easily won. Against Luc, I knew it would be very tough.”

In the first set, trailing 12-17, the German from Asptt scored nine of the next ten points to take the lead (21-18 in 14 minutes). In the 2nd set, Thalmann made several judgment errors, allowing his opponent to take control early on (7-3, 14-12, 16-13). At the end of the set, Discher tightened his game to secure his victory (21-15 in 16 minutes).

“Luc controls the game well and has a lot of variations. I knew that if he set the pace, I would suffer a lot,” recounted the winner. “So my goal was to take the shuttle very early and gain time during the changeover. Even in the tougher moments, I managed to stick to my strategy. At the end of the first set, maybe he overthought it a bit, and I was able to take advantage.”

In other N2 categories, Réunionese Aaron Assing and Strasbourg’s Kelly Banchonpanith won the mixed doubles. While Toulouse’s Camille Raynaud triumphed in the women’s singles, Messin Titouan Emond and Schwindratzheim’s Théo Epp secured the men’s doubles title. Finally, Postiére’s Marine Feruzi and Clara Menegazzi-Briquet emerged victorious in the women’s doubles.