“I’ve been here before, as if I was in Tokyo,” said Leani Ratri Oktila after her 21-17 21-12 defeat to China’s Cheng Hefang in SL4 women’s singles.

At the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games, the Indonesian fell 19-21 21-17 16-21 in a hard-fought final against the same opponent. Oktila then got pregnant and gave birth to a baby boy in August last year.

“Cheng hasn’t changed at all. She’s playing the same way whereas I’ve slowed down. I know I’m not at the level I should be. I have a lot of work to do to get back to the way I was and that includes losing some of the weight I put on after having my baby.”

Many of Cheng’s teammates also breezed through their matches as if they had not missed a day, despite returning to international competition for the first time since Tokyo 2020.

In WH2 women’s singles, Paralympic champion Liu Yutong defeated I-chen Yang (Chinese Taipei) 21-8 21-7 while Li Hongyan overcame Turkey’s Emine Seckin 17-21 21-12 21-10.

Not to be left out, the men too made easy work of their opponents.

Mai Jianpeng took a while against Switzerland’s Luca Olgiati but won 21-13 20-22 21-13 in WH2 men’s singles.

“I could have played better. The lockdowns gave us a chance to rest and not travel but we still continued training. ‘Face time’ training too because we were in separate locations and kept in touch by phone. We are good friends so it was easy to keep each other motivated,” he said.

Mai’s doubles partner Qu Zimo, who had an easy 21-6 21-2 first-match win over Thailand’s Kokakot Maiwijit in WH2 men’s singles, said: “Coming back after so many months is exciting. I can see a lot of new faces but I still don’t see anyone who can really challenge me at this time.”

→ Results (Day 1)