Asian Para Games
Asian Para Games: Pramod Bhagat leads India's gold rush in Para-Badminton
Indian para shuttlers won a total of eight medals including four gold and four silver on the 5th day of Asian Para Games 2023.
FILE PHOTO: Para shuttler Pramod Bhagat
Paralympian Pramod Bhagat led the gold rush in Para-badminton at the Asian Para Games 2023 in Hangzhou, China as Indian shuttlers clinched four gold medals on Friday.
Pramod Bhagat (SL3), Suhas Yathiraj (SL4), and Thuslimathi Murugesan (SU5) won the gold in the singles category while Nitesh Kumar/Tarun took the gold in men's doubles SL3/SL4.
Playing against his compatriot Nitesh in the final, Pramod won a three-game thriller 22-20, 18-21, 21-19 to clinch the gold medal. He made a big comeback in the third set from 16-19 to 21-16 to successfully defend his title from the 2018 Asian Para Games.
Talking about the same an elated Pramod Bhagat said, “Firstly a huge congratulations to Nitesh Kumar, I think he played the game of his life, but unfortunately ended up with a silver, He is a brilliant player and pushed me till the edge which he did today.”
Adding further he said, “Somehow even when I was trailing, I had a belief that I would make a comeback and could win, the thought of losing never occurred to me. I focused on 1 point at a time and made it possible and I am really happy with my performance."
Paralympic medalist Suhas Yathiraj clinched a gold medal in the men's singles SL4 category with a 13-21, 21-18, 21-9 win over Malaysia's Bin Burhanuddin. He made a comeback after trailing by a set.
Paralympic Champion Krishna Nagar settled with the silver medal after his loss to the first-seeded Chu Man Kai of Hong Kong in the final with 10-21, 21-8, 11-21.
Nitesh Kumar shrugged off the disappointment of the singles final to clinch gold in the men's doubles SL3/SL4 category with Tarun Kumar. They defeated the Indonesian pair of Freddy Setiawan and Dwiyoko 9-21, 21-19, 22-20.
Thulasimathi Murugesan won the gold medal in the Women's Singles SU5 category with her straight-set win over Yang Qiuxia of China 21-19, 21-19.
Murugesan made a superb comeback in the second game from 5-16 down to 21-19 and won the first gold medal for India in the women's singles category.
India has won a total of 21 medals in Para-Badminton including four gold, four silver, and thirteen bronze medals at the continental showpiece.
