PARIS – Wheelchair tennis player Rob Shaw of North Bay, Ont. is Canada’s top medal hope at the Paralympic Games in racquet sports (wheelchair tennis, Para badminton, Para table tennis) and is entering the tournament with a hot hand.
Canada has one entry in each of the three racquet sports at the Games: Shaw, Yuka Chokyu of Vancouver in Para badminton and Peter Isherwood, also of Vancouver, in Para table tennis.
Shaw, currently ranked eighth in the world in quad singles, scored two tournament victories this summer including the Swiss Open in Geneva. It was his first ITF1 Series win, the top level for the sport, in his career. He defeated Francisco Cayulef of Chile in the final 7-5, 2-6, 6-2 on July 20.
It was Cayulef who beat Shaw for gold at the 2023 Parapan Am Games.
Both titles were also on clay which is the surface for the Paralympic Games. Shaw has been very strong this season on clay with 11 wins and three losses.
“It felt good to put together eight solid matches in a row. It’s given me a bit more confidence going into Paris,” Shaw told CTV News Northern Ontario.
Shaw made his Paralympic Games debut at the year-delayed Games in Tokyo three years ago. Those Games held during the pandemic did not provide the full athletic experience for Shaw.
‘’It’ll (Paris) be my first true Paralympic Games experience the way it’s supposed to be experienced.”
Dutch players are ranked 1-2 in the world in quad singles with Sam Schroder at No. 1 followed by Niels Vink. Vink defeated his compatriot in the Wimbledon final last month.
Shaw’s first round match is set for August 31 at Roland Garros Stadium.
Chokyu to compete in second sport at Paralympics
Yuka Chokyu previously competed at three Paralympic Games (2000, 2004, 2008) as a wheelchair tennis player. Now she is going back, this time in Para badminton, becoming one of the few athletes to compete in two different sports at a summer Games.
Other Canadians to achieve the feat include four-time Paralympic Games champion Michelle Stillwell (wheelchair basketball and wheelchair racing) and seven-time champion Arnold Boldt (high jumping and Para cycling).
In Paris, Chokyu will compete in the WH1 women’s wheelchair category. Last year she won the bronze medal in the event at the Parapan American Games and earlier in 2024 reached the round of 16 at the world championships.
Chokyu is ranked 11th in the world heading to Paris 2024.
Her first match is set for August 29 at Porte de La Chapelle Arena.
Isherwood makes Paralympic Games debut
Peter Isherwood will make history in Paris as the first Canadian athlete to compete in a wheelchair classification in Para table tennis.
Isherwood, a member of the last two Parapan American Games teams, competes in men’s Class 2 singles which starts September 1 at the South Paris Arena.