Para Badminton C’ships: Pramod Bhagat bags two gold as India finish with 11 medals in Sao Paulo

Indian para-badminton player Pramod Bhagat claimed two gold medals at the Brazil Para-Badminton International Championships in Sao Paulo as India ended its campaign with 10 medals.

Bhagat, who is at the top of the world rankings, won the gold medal in the men’s singles (SL3) and men’s doubles (SL3-SL4) alongside Manoj Sarkar, scoring key points for the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games.

Bhagat defeated Sarkar, who is seeded two, 22-20, 23-21 in the men’s singles final to clinch his first gold of the evening. After that, Bhagat paired with his singles opponent Sarkar to outplay China’s Chen Xiaoyu and Gao Yuyang 21-11, 21-7 to win the title in the men’s doubles SL 3-SL 4 event.

“It’s great to start off the year on a strong note,” Bhagat told Paralympic Committee of India.

He added: “Winning the golds here gave me a lot of confidence and I feel good now looking ahead in the Road to Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games. Last year, I had to settle for the silver in the Tokyo 2020 test event in Japan. It was disappointing.”

Other players to win gold for India include Suhas Lalinakere Yathiraj, who defeated top seed Lucas Majur of France 9-21, 21-16, 21-19 in the final of the SL4 category. Yashraj displayed his exceptional talent and shocked his opponent from France by making a comeback from a set down to win the finals.

In the men’s SS6 category, Krishna Nagar had to settle for a silver medal. They were defeated 21-18 21-19 by local favourite Vitor Gonsalves in the final. The silver medalists include Rajkumar and Rakesh Pandey (SU5) in men’s doubles, besides Prem Kumar (WH1-WH2) and his Russian partner.

In the women’s category Seasoned SL3 player Parul D Parmar’s went down fighting against Turkey’s Halime Yildiz as she faltered 9-21, 14-21. Parmar managed to bag a bronze in the mixed doubles SU5-SL3 category alongside Rajkumar to strengthen her chances for the Tokyo Olympics.