Bhagat-Kadam pair wins gold in Four-Nation Para-badminton meet in England

NEW DELHI, Aug 7: World No. 1 men’s doubles pairing of Pramod Bhagat and Sukant Kadam won a gold medal in SL3-SL4 category at the Four Nations Para-Badminton International in Sheffield, England.

Bhagat also secured silver in the singles SL3 category as well as a silver in mixed doubles SL3- SU5 category with Manisha Ramdass. Kadam won a bronze in the singles SL4 category.

Bhagat and Kadam defeated the Indian pair of Deep Ranjan Bisoyee and Manoj Sarkar 21-17 21-17 to secure gold in the men’s doubles.  In singles, Bhagat went down to England’s Daniel Bethell 8-21 10-21.

In the mixed doubles, Bhagat and Ramdass went down against Indonesia’s Hikmat Ramdani and Leani Ratri Oktila 17–21 17–21. “I am happy with the doubles result but at the same time not very pleased with my singles and mixed doubles result. Daniel Bethell has been a very challenging opponent for me this year and I need to make major improvements in order to beat him.

“I will head back into my training immediately and start working on my weaknesses,” Bhagat said. Kadam, meanwhile, lost to Indonesia’s Fredy Setiawan 21-17 15-21 16-21 in the semifinals to secure a bronze in singles.

The other Indian winners include Krishna Nagar who secured gold in SH6 category, Manasi Joshi and Thulasimathi Murugesan (gold in the women’s doubles SL3– SU5) and Parul Dalsukhbhai Parmar and Shanthiya Viswanathan in the same category.

Nithya Sre secured a silver in women’s SH6 category, Deep Ranjan Bisoyee and Manoj Sarkar won silver while Nitesh and Tarun bagged a bronze in men’s SL3–SL4. Kumar Nitesh secured a bronze in SL3 category, Manasi  Joshi and Mandeep Kaur won a bronze in women’s SL3 category and Chirag Baretha and Raj Kumar bagged a silver in mixed doubles SU5 category.

Ramdass secured bronze in women’s SU5 category, Krishna Nagar and Nithya Sre won a bronze in mixed doubles SH6 category while Prem Kumar Ale and Turkey’s Emine Seckin bagged a bronze in mixed doubles WH1-WH2 event. (PTI)