00:00I'm soaking it in that like I'm in the way I've trained for 10 years. I'm absolutely
00:06comfortable, I'm absolutely perfect, I'm happy and I just feel a bit free and relaxed, I'd
00:11say. The fact that people are watching me doesn't really have much pressure and what
00:15not, but yeah, I'm just pleased, I'd say.
00:18Cardiff is home to so many different sports. Of course, we've got the rugby, the football
00:22and other sports come to the city and the latest is Para-Badminton. The British and
00:26Irish, Para-Badminton International has been underway in Cardiff, showcasing some of the
00:30best athletes from across the globe. Peru, Italy, Australia, Taiwan, South Korea, Brazil, you
00:36name it, they're all here. But there's one homegrown hero that has been looking to make
00:40his mark. Number one ranked Welsh player, Jack Wilson.
00:45No, it's the kind of, I need to be in the top 12 to get into the future level ones so
00:51that you have your best chance of going to the Olympic, basically. But I think that win
00:57probably has been in a good position, so yeah, we see. But yeah, I don't know everything that
01:02I can do for now and yeah.
01:05Because winning that match means that he now gives himself a really strong chance of progressing
01:09through the group. But yeah, a lot of the stuff that he's worked on over the last two or
01:14three months is starting to happen and it's worked exceptionally hard, there's nutrition
01:18and that has had a massive effect on his speed. And yeah, some of the points today are just
01:23really sort of emphasising how well that's coming off.
01:26With the hundreds of competitors from across the world all travelling to Cardiff and some
01:30media coverage as well as matches being live-streamed, Graham from Badminton Wales hopes that the event
01:35will grow the sport in Wales and showcase just what we have to offer.
01:40Yeah, it is a sort of chance for us to showcase Badminton and Jack obviously being successful
01:46at an event in Wales is only going to sort of spread that word of come and play Badminton.
01:51It's such an amazing sport and a lot of people do play but we need to get that sort of coverage
01:58and support and just more people interested in it. And yeah, I think we've got a handful of players
02:03on our programme and yeah, we're doing well and we want to showcase those so we get more
02:08inspiration for the next generation and so on really.
02:12Jack has his sights set on LA 2028 and despite it still being a full three years to go,
02:17there are plenty of opportunities to qualify for the Paralympics at this event and others
02:21coming up in the future. So this could be the start of a long qualifying campaign.
02:26Yeah, it seems mad that we're actually talking about 2028 already but we need to get in position
02:31so we've got a really good chance to start qualification in this category.
02:35So when we're looking at it, it needs to be top 12 in the world.
02:39So points and all the sort of stuff that goes with it is going to be vital.
02:44But we sort of start qualification in a really sort of positive way.
02:48So every single tournament from now on is going to be really important.
02:52And he's got that sort of belief and confidence in him and it just needs to come out at the right time.
02:57Today was, yeah, a pretty good day.
Comments