Brazil Para Badminton International: India returns with 11 medals

The Indian para badminton contingent returned with a rich haul of 11 medals from the BWF Brazil Para Badminton International that was staged in Sao Paulo from 10th February to 16th February.

With four gold medals, five silvers and two bronze, the shuttlers were impressive as they pitched in with a fine showing, which will give the players confidence as they look towards the Paralympics in Tokyo this year.

Top seed Pramod Bhagat and second seed Manoj Sarkar bagged the top two honours in the MS -SL 3 category. The Indians entered the finals and took on each other, with Bhagat prevailing 22-20, 23-21 in a tough match that lasted just under 30 minutes.

Parul Parmar, the number one seed in the Women's SL 3 event, went down to Halime Yildiz of Turkey to return with a silver, while Suhas Lalinakere Yathiraj bagged a gold in the Men's SL 4 event. Sukant Kadam won a bronze in the same event.

Nagar Krishna was a silver medalist in the Men's SH 6 event, as he went down to local boy Vitor Tavares 21-18, 21-19 in yet another cliff-hanger. The men's doubles pair of Bhagat and Sarkar bagged a gold in the SL3-SL4 category, while Raj Kumar and Rakesh Pandey ended with a silver in the men's doubles SU 5 event after losing to the Indonesian pair of Suryo Nugroho and Fredy Setiawan.

Prem Kumar Ale and his partner Tatiana Gureeva came second in the Mixed doubles WH1-WH2 category. Raj Kumar and Parul Parmar bagged a bronze in the mixed doubles SL3-SU5 event, while Nagar Krishna and Carmen Flores of Peru were the gold medal winners in the mixed doubles SH 6 category.

The para badminton stars now gear up to play in the Peru Para Badminton International that commences from 18th February, 2020 in Lima.