Daria Bujnicka and Oliwia Szmigiel know everything about each other.

“We are always on the phone. It’s just girl-talk but mostly we talk about boys,” said Bujnicka, whose home in Warsaw is about a four-hour train ride to where her best friend lives in Wroclaw.

Badminton is one of the many interests that brought them together.

Szmigiel is generally more talkative, whereas on court, Bujnicka, 19, is more vocal.

“She’s the boss but her shouting motivates me,” said 20-year-old Szmigiel.

The Polish duo won silver at the Para Badminton World Championships 2022 in Tokyo and are currently the top-ranked SH6 women’s pair. At the Thailand Para Badminton International 2023 in Pattaya today, they extended their campaign with a 21-11 21-5 win over Choi Wing Kei/Lam Ching Yung of Hong Kong China.

Szmigiel and Bujnicka view the emergence of new players and partnerships as a huge bonus to their sport, rather than a threat.

“It’s giving us confidence our category will be included in more tournaments and maybe even at the Paralympics one day,” Szmigiel said.

Bujnicka jumped in: “The new ones are amazing and it’s very competitive but we know our game. We are moving faster nowadays, we plan before a game and think when playing.”

And when there is time off from matches, they go in search of food.

“I love chicken curry,” said Bujnicka, who is in the final year of photography studies.

Szmigiel’s favourites are Pad Thai noodles and coconut water.

“It’s so natural, it must be good for you,” said this student of dentistry.