Tokyo, Sept 4: Reigning world champion Pramod Bhagat claimed a historic gold medal in the men’s singles SL3 class while Manoj Sarkar bagged a bronze as Indian badminton players dished out an impressive performance to continue country’s medal rush at the Tokyo Paralympics, here today.
World number one Bhagat, who is also an Asian champion, humbled Great Britain’s Daniel Bethell in the summit clash while Sarkar defeated Japan’s Daisuke Fujihara in the third place play-off.
In SL3 classification, athletes with lower limb impairment compete.
With badminton making its debut at the Paralympics this year, Bhagat, became the first Indian to win a gold medal in the sport.
The top seed 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 meet Japanese pair of Daisuke Fujihara and Akiko Sugino in the bronze medal play off on Sunday.
Sarkar had lost his semifinals against second seeded Bethell, going down 8-21 10-21 in SL3 class. But he recovered quickly from the defeat to produce a superb show to claim the bronze.
In the gold medal match, Bhagat conceded a 3-6 lead early on but he soon worked his way back into the game, moving to 8-6 . He engaged Bethell in long rallies and waited for his opponent to commit errors.
A body smash gave Bhagat a 11-8 advantage at the break.
The Indian used his array of strokes and also changed his pace during the rally to outwit his rival.
Leading 15-9, Bhagat conceded a few points but kept his nose ahead before grabbing six game points when Bethell went long. An attacking return earned the Indian the bragging rights.
In the second game, Bethell produced a superb rearguard action to jump to 11-4 lead.(PTI)
However, Bhagat scripted a remarkable recovery, winning next six of the seven points to cut down the deficit to 10-12. He eventually turned the tables at 16-15. A error in judgement put Bhagat 18-16 ahead before he unleashed a flurry of attacking smashes to grab three match points.
With Bethell committing another error, Bhagat dropped his racquet and jumped into the arms of his coach Gaurav Khanna in celebration.
More medals are in store for India as Suhas Yathiraj and Krishna Nagar also sailed into the men’s singles finals of SL4 class and SH6 class respectively.
Tarun Dhillon too stayed in contention for a bronze after losing his semifinals earlier in the day.
In SL4 class, Suhas outwitted Indonesia’s Fredy Setiawan 21-9 21-15 in the first semifinal.
In SL4 class semifinal, Tarun went down narrowly 16-21 21-16 18-21 to Mazur. He will face Setiawan in the bronze medal play off. (PTI)
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