PARIS, Sep 2: Inspired by the country’s armed forces and cricket star Virat Kohli, a determined Kumar Nitesh sparkled with a gold medal on debut as India’s para-badminton players ensured that the nation celebrated its best day at the ongoing Paralympic Games and remained on course for a record-breaking medal haul.
The 29-year-old engineering graduate from IIT, Mandi, who lost his left leg in a train accident back in 2009, won the top honours in the men’s singles SL3 category, defeating Tokyo silver-medallist Daniel Bethell of Britain 21-14 18-21 23-21 in a gruelling final that lasted over an hour.
His gold was icing on the cake on a day when India clinched silver medals through discus thrower Yogesh Kathuniya (F56) and para-shuttlers Thulasimathi Murugesan (SU5) and Suhas Yathiraj (SL4), who had won a silver in the Tokyo Games as well. The bronze also came from a para-shuttler in Manisha Ramadass (SU5).
The country found itself in the top-25 thanks to a haul of 12 medals so far. It is aiming to better the 19 medals achieved in Tokyo three years ago.
Nitesh’s gold was the second of the ongoing Games after wheelchair-bound shooter Avani Lekhara’s top finish in the women’s 10m air rifle (SH1) event last week.
“I have lost in such situations against him and I didn’t want to make the same mistakes… I told myself that I should keep fighting for each point. At 19-20 in decider also, I told myself to stay there and make him earn the point,” Nitesh said of his rival, who had beaten him nine times in the past.
Nitesh, who aspired to follow in his father’s footsteps and join the armed forces before the devastating accident left him despondent, was tenacity personified in his match against Bethell.
The Haryana-lad, who competes with a prosthetic leg, was a footballer before the accident and was inspired to resume his sporting career as a shuttler after watching army veterans without limbs showing the spirit to carry on.
“I also admire Virat Kohli because the way he has converted himself into a fit athlete — like how he used to be before 2013 — and how he is now so fit and so disciplined,” the world number three told before the final.
For discus thrower Yogesh Kathuniya it was a second consecutive Paralympic silver medal after a season’s best effort of 42.22m. The 27-year-old hurled the discus to the podium-clinching distance in his very first attempt to add to the silver he won in the Tokyo Paralympics three years ago.
Brazil’s Claudiney Batista dos Santos registered a hat-trick of Paralympic gold medals, creating a new Games record with an effort of 46.86m in his fifth attempt. Greece’s Konstantinos Tzounis won the bronze with 41.32m.
The F-56 classification covers limb deficiency, leg length difference, impaired muscle power and impaired range of movement. At the age of 9, Kathuniya developed the Guillain-Barre syndrome, a rare autoimmune condition which causes numbness, tingling and muscle weakness that can progress to paralysis.
He was bound to the wheelchair during his childhood but overcame the odds with the help of his mother Meena Devi, who learnt physiotherapy to help him regain muscle strength to walk again. His father has also served in the Indian Army.
“For some time, I’m winning silver only be it Tokyo (Paralympics) or today, World Championships or Asian Games..Everywhere I’m winning silver. Gaadi atak gayi hai (I’m stuck on silver). I think I need to work harder. Now I want gold,” a rather disappointed Kathuniya said of his performance on the day.
Shuttler Murugesan, on the other hand, was competing in her maiden Paralympics and would go back happy after clinching a silver on debut. She lost 17-21 10-21 to China’s defending champion Yang Qiuxia in the final. Her classification covers upper limb impairment, which may or may not affect the playing hand.
The second-seeded Manisha, who lost to Murugesan in the semifinals, outplayed Danish third seed Cathrine Rosengren 21-12 21-8 to claim the bronze medal.
Later, top-seeded Suhas was outplayed by 9-21 13-21 by Frenchman Lucas Mazur in the SL4 men’s singles final. The SL4 classification covers impairment in lower limbs that hampers walking and running balance. Suhas was born with a congenital deformity in his left ankle that affects his balance.
In Chateauroux, Indian shooters Nihal Singh and Amir Ahmad Bhat could not make the final of the mixed 25m pistol (SH1) competition, finishing 10th and 11th respectively in the qualifications. (PTI)
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