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Paris Paralympics

Paris Paralympics 2024: India end para-badminton campaign with best ever medal tally

Published at :September 3, 2024 at 1:48 PM
Modified at :September 3, 2024 at 3:45 PM
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(Courtesy : Getty Images)

Anmol Kakkar

India finished fifth in the medal table behind Indonesia, Japan and China

The Para badminton action at Paris Paralympics 2024 ended on Monday with Indian shuttlers bettering their tally from Tokyo by five more medals. India won 1 gold, 2 silver and 2 bronze each in Paris, whereas, their tally three years ago was 2 gold, 1 silver and 1 bronze.

Suhas Yathiraj and Sukant Kadam were the first to confirm a medal for India in para badminton after reaching the semifinals of the men’s singles SL4 Category. The second medal was confirmed by Manisha Ramadass and Thulasimathi Murugesan, who also advanced to the semifinals of the women’s singles SU5 category.

Nitesh Kumar then assured himself a medal by defeating Daisuke Fujihara of Japan in the semifinals of the men’s singles SL3 category.

The 29-year-old, however, didn’t stop there and went on to clinch India’s first gold in para-badminton at Paris Paralympics 2024. Nitesh achieved his career’s first singles gold by beating the tournament favourite Daniel Bethel 21-14, 18-21, 23-21 to emerge as champion in men’s singles SL3 category.

It wasn’t easy and Nitesh—silver medallist at Asian Para Games and World Championships—had to save match point in the decider to earn the golden crown. This was also his first win over the British player in the 10 meetings.

Nitesh, who was the first seed, retained the title for India in the men’s singles SL3 category. Pramod Bhagat, who was banned days before Paris 2024, had won gold in this category in Tokyo 2020.

Manisha Ramadass won the second medal for India after defeating Denmark’s Cathrine Rosengren 21-12, 21-8 to win the bronze medal in the women’s singles SU5 category. In the same event, Thulasimathi Murugesan won silver, going down against the defending Champion Yang Qiuxia of China 17-21, 10-21 in the final.

Gold medallist in singles at the Hangzhou Asian Para Game champion, Thulasimathi, started well and was leading 15-11 in the first game but couldn’t capitalise on the advantage, lost the game 17-21 and eventually the match.

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Meanwhile, Suhas Yathiraj retained his silver medal in the men’s singles SL4 category after losing to home favourite and defending Champion Lucas Mazur 9-21, 13-21 in the final. Yathiraj, the current World Champion didn’t stand a chance against Lucas and was outplayed completely. Nevertheless, a great effort by him as he became the only Indian shuttler to win two medals at the Paralympics.

Sukant Kadam finished a heartbreaking fourth after losing to Fredy Setiawan of Indonesia 17-21, 18-21. Sukant lost his focus at the crucial stage and that cost him the match.

In India’s final medal match, Nithya Sre Sumathy Sivan won the bronze medal in women’s singles SH6 category after defeating Rina Marlina of Indonesia 21-14, 21-6. This was also her first win over the Indonesian in eight meetings. Nithya completely dominated the match and was emotional in the end after winning the match.

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