Asian Para Games Highlights: Manasi-Thulasimathi assured of a medal, Bhavina in R16 - Blog, Scores, Updates

Indian para contingent was in action across para badminton, para table tennis, blind football and boccia on Saturday. After two days of play in the group stage, Indian women’s doubles pair of Manasi Joshi and Thulasimathi Murugesan are assured of a medal after reaching the SL3-SU5 semifinal. The Indian pair have a silver from the 2023 Hangzhou edition. They defeated China's Yuemei Liu and Tongtong Li to confirm a top-two finish in Group A.

Tokyo Paralympics champion Krishna Nagar also confirmed a quarterfinal berth in the men's singles SH6. It was a good outing for Paris Paralympics champion Nitesh Kumar and Tokyo Paralympics winner Pramod Bhagat as both had a good outing in the men's singles SL3.

In mixed doubles SL3-SU5, Manisha Ramadass-Pramod Bhagat and Ruthick Ragupathi and Joshi faced losses.

In para table tennis, Paralympics silver medallist Bhavina Patel continued her winning streak. In blind football, India faced their second consecutive loss, losing 1-6 to Japan.

Jehan Madan lost a close match to Kazakhstan's Ardak Nurmagambetov 2-3 (8-11, 2-11, 11-8, 11-7, 7-11) in the men's singles Class 1 Group A match.

Madan now has lost two and won one match so far. In his last group match he will take on South Korea's Kyeonuk Kim.

Sandeep Dangi lost to South Korea's Hyeonuk Kim 0-3 (3-11, 4-11, 1-11) in 14 minutes in the men's singles Class 1 Group A match.

Earlier, Dangi had lost his opening round to countrymate Jehan Madan 1-4.

He will play Rakan Alsalmi of Kingdon of Saudi Arabia.

Manasi and Thulasimathi continue their good form, claiming their second consecutive win, beating China's Tongtong Li and Yuemei Liu, 21-14, 22-20.

With this, they have confirmed their place in the semi-finals, with one match still to go, as they secured a top 2 finish in Group A and ensured a medal.

They will still take on the other Chinese pair in the final group match on Monday, eyeing a top-place finish in their group.

This will be their second back-to-back medal at these Games, having won a silver last time in Hangzhou.

Dattaprasad has yet another defeat in the group stage as he lost in straight games to Kazakhstan's Marat Surtubayev, 11-13, 5-11, 7-11.

He finished third in the group with two defeats in two matches and missed out on a spot in quarterfinal as only the top two progress.

Indian pair Umesh Kumar and Rakesh Pandey face their second consecutive defeat in the group stage to Indonesia's Hikmat Ramdani and Fredy Setiawan, 14-21, 10-21.

With this, they finished third in the group, while only two were to advance to the quarterfinals.

The second Indian pair Abhijeet Sakhuja and Suhas Yathiraj, also had a group stage exit with their second straight defeat to South Korea's Seunghu Lee and Jeongsoo Lee, 14-21, 24-22, 12-21.

Haris Mythili starts his campaign with a straight-sets win (21-13, 21-17) against Indonesia's Wiwin Andri in his first group match.

This was the second meeting between the two, with the Indian now levelling the head-to-head record at 1-1.

The World No. 11 Haris will now face Iraq's M. Alameer in his final group match, and a win will secure his place in the round of 16.

Mandeep Kaur and Shanthiya Vishwanathan had yet another defeat in the group stage, ending their Semi-final qualification chances.

The Indian duo lost 11-21, 12-21 to China's Hefang Cheng and Zixuan Huang in the second group match.

Only the top two from the two groups advance to the semi-finals, which Mandeep and Shanthiya failed to do.

Hence, they will now just compete in the final group match as a dead rubber against the Hong Kong pair on Monday.

Sonalben loses in straight games to three-time Asian Games women's singles medalist Lee Mi-gyu of South Korea in her second group match, 3-11, 11-13, 9-11.

Sonalben now have one win and a loss from her two group matches and might need a win in her final group match against Chinese Taipei's Chao Pei-Hsi on Monday.

Only the top two from the group will qualify for the quarterfinal.

Krishna qualifies for the last 8 with a second successive win in the group stage, getting the better of Indonesia's Subhan, 21-13, 21-15.

He has confirmed a top-2 finish in Group C, which helped him book his spot in the quarterfinals with one group match yet to happen.

The Tokyo Paralympic champion will next face China's Naili Lin to fight for a top-place finish in his group.