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Tokyo: Defending world champion Pramod Bhagat won a historic gold medal in the men’s singles SL3 category at the Tokyo Paralympics here on Saturday, while Manoj Sarkar won the bronze.
Bhagat defeated Daniel Bethel of Great Britain in the summit clash, while Sarkar defeated Daisuke Fujihara of Japan in the play-offs, with both Indians winning straight games.
In the SL3 classification, athletes with impairment of the lower limbs are allowed to compete.
With the introduction of badminton at the Paralympics this year, Bhagat, the current world No. 1, thus became the first Indian to win a gold medal in the sport.
The top seeded Indian, who is also an Asian champion, showed great mental fortitude as he overcame second seed Bethel 21-14, 21-17 in a thrilling 45-minute final at the Yoyogi National Stadium.
The 33-year-old from Bhubaneswar is also in the running for a bronze medal in the mixed doubles SL3-SU5 category.
Bhagat and his partner Palak Kohli will take on Japanese pair of Daisuke Fujihara and Akiko Sugino in the bronze medal play-off on Sunday.
They lost in the semi-finals earlier in the day 3-21, 15-21 to the Indonesian combination of Harry Susanto and Lynne Ratri Oktila.
Bhagat, who was diagnosed with polio at the age of 4, started the game by watching his neighbors play. Initially, he competed against able-bodied players before switching to competitive para badminton in 2006.
He eventually emerged as one of the best para shuttlers in the country with 45 international medals under his belt, including four World Championship gold medals and a gold and a bronze at the 2018 Asian Para Games.
He also started his career as a badminton coach but took a break in 2019 to focus on Tokyo Paralympic qualification.
In 2019, he received the Arjuna Award and the Biju Patnaik Award for excellence in sports in India.
The 31-year-old Sarkar, whose right leg was affected after suffering from polio at the age of one, performed extremely well during his 22-20 21-13 win over Fujihara.
In the semi-finals, Sarkar could not find any sort of rhythm against second seed Daniel Bethel of Great Britain, losing 8–21 10–21 in the men’s singles SL3 category.
But he quickly recovered from the defeat and put up a brilliant performance to clinch the bronze medal.
Sarkar started playing badminton at the age of five, but it was his passion to win against his older brothers that motivated him to take the game seriously. He played inter-school competition against able-bodied players up to class 11 before starting to compete in para badminton in 2011.
He won the gold medal in SL3 singles at the 2016 Asian Championships in Beijing. In 2018, he received the Arjuna Award and a year later, he was named Para Sportsman of the Year at the Sportstar Aces Awards.
Earlier in the day, Suhas Yathiraj and Krishna Nagar advanced to the men’s singles final in SL4 category and SH6 category respectively.
Read also: The Olympics took India higher, the Paralympics raised it higher. Are administrators listening?
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