BRITISH wheelchair tennis pair of Hampshire's Lucy Shuker and Jordanne Whiley won Paralympic silver after being outclassed by Holland’s Diede De Groot and Aniek Van Koot in the women’s doubles final in Tokyo.
Shuker and Whiley went down in straight sets in just over an hour against the top seeds at Ariake Tennis Park, losing 6-0 6-1.
Despite Saturday’s comprehensive defeat, second place on the podium was an upgrade for the GB duo, who claimed bronze at both London 2012 and Rio 2016.
On our way 🇬🇧 🔜 🇯🇵 @the_LTA #Tokyo2020 #Paralympics @British_Airways #YouMakeUsFly pic.twitter.com/PK12LcLFhl
— Lucy Shuker (@lucy_shuker) August 18, 2021
Van Koot and De Groot were on opposite sides of the net for the gold medal match in Brazil five years ago, with the former coming out on top alongside Jiske Griffioen, while the latter was partnered by Marjolein Buis.
They combined to devastating effect this time around as second seeds Shuker and Whiley were unable to gain a foothold in a match which swiftly became a formality.
De Groot had already claimed the singles title in Japan following Friday’s victory over home favourite Yui Kamiji while for Van Koot, the win was revenge after losing out on individual bronze to Whiley.
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