Finance
Pramod Bhagat of Odisha and Tarun Dhillon of Punjab each won two gold medals as the Indian team finished with a total of 23 medals, including seven gold medals, at the 1st Bahrain Para-Badminton International Championships 2022.
Manisha Ramdass, a promising doubles shuttler, shot into the spotlight with her twin gold medal performance, while Nithya Sre Sumathy Sivan (WS SH6) and Dhinagaran Pandurangan and Sivarajan Solaimalai (Doubles SH6) claimed the other top honours for India.
With a new partner, Bhagat turned the colour of his silver medal in mixed doubles SL3-SU5 from Brazil into gold this time. He and the promising Manisha Ramdass defeated Thailand’s Siripong Teamarrom and Nipada Saensupa 21-14, 21-11 to win the gold medal.
Bhagat then went on to win the men’s singles SL3 gold after England’s Daniel Bethell gave a walkover.
Dhillon, who missed out on a medal at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympics, first teamed up with Nitesh Kumar to defeat Thailand’s Mongkhon Bunsun and Siripong Teamarrom in the men’s doubles SL3-Sl4 summit clash, 21-13, 21-7.
Dhillon won the men’s singles SL4 gold medal in just 20 minutes, defeating South Korea’s Shin Kyung Hwan 21-9, 21-9.
Manisha and Nithya stand out in women’s events.
Nithya Sre Sumathy Sivan, the Asian Youth Para Games champion, defeated England’s Rachel Choong 21-15, 21-15 in the women’s events.
Meanwhile, Mandeep Kaur, who had an upset win in her semi-finals, had to settle for second place after losing to Turkey’s Halime Yildiz in the women’s SL3 finals 21-5, 21-17, the Paralympic Committee of India (PCI) announced on Sunday.
She then put on a strong performance, teaming up with Manisha Ramdass to win gold in the women’s doubles SL3-SU5 finals. They defeated the Paralympic duo of Palak Kohli and Parul Dalsukhbhai Parmar 21-11, 21-11 in just 23 minutes.
Dhinagaran Pandurangan and Sivarajan Solaimalai won gold in doubles SH6 after Hong Kong’s Chu Man Kai and Wong Chun Yim retired with one game all 21-12,10-21.
Gaurav Khanna, the chief national coach, was a proud coach at the end of the day, with consistent results from his charges. “Once again, our para shuttlers have performed admirably. I am very pleased with how the players are delivering excellent results in consecutive events. Though there is still work to be done, one of the primary focuses will be on their fitness.
“Quite a few names have done exceptionally well in recent tournaments.” We have high hopes because of promising names like Manisha Ramdass and others.”
The Indian team will be back in action on Tuesday at the 4th Fazza Dubai 2022 Para-Badminton International.
Source:Sambad
