Bhagat wins historic badminton gold in Paralympics

PTI, Sep 4, 2021, 4:50 PM IST

Tokyo: Reigning world champion Pramod Bhagat on Saturday claimed a historic badminton gold medal in men’s singles SL3 class after notching up a thrilling straight-game win over Great Britain’s Daniel Bethell in the summit clash at the Tokyo Paralympics.

With badminton making its debut at the Paralympics this year, Bhagat, the current world No. 1, thus became the first Indian to win a gold medal in the sport.

The top-seeded Indian, also an Asian champion, showed great mental fortitude as he prevailed 21-14 21-17 over second-seeded Bethell in a thrilling final that lasted 45 minutes at the Yoyogi National Stadium.

The 33-year-old from Bhubaneswar also remains in contention for a bronze medal in mixed doubles SL3-SU5 class. Bhagat and his partner Palak Kohli will square off against Japanese pair of Daisuke Fujihara and Akiko Sugino in the bronze medal playoff on Sunday.

They had lost the semifinals 3-21 15-21 to the Indonesian combination of Hary Susanto and Leani Ratri Oktila earlier in the day.

Bhagat, who had contracted polio when he was 4 years old, picked up the sports after watching his neighbours play. Initially, he competed against able-bodied players before getting into competitive para-badminton in 2006.

He eventually emerged as one of the best para shuttlers in the country with 45 international medals under his belt, including four world championship gold medals and a gold and a bronze in the 2018 Asian Para Games.

He also had started his career as a badminton coach but took a break in 2019 to focus on the Tokyo Paralympics qualification.

In 2019, he received the Arjuna Award and Biju Patnaik Award for Excellence in Sports in India. Earlier in the day, Suhas Yathiraj and Krishna Nagar also sailed into the men’s singles finals of SL4 class and SH6 class respectively.

In the SL3 classification, athletes with lower limb impairment are allowed to compete.