Pramod Bhagat and Palak Kohli will play Siripong Teamrom and Nipada Sensupa in the mixed doubles category SL3-SU5 on September 3
World No. 1 Pramod Bhagat entered the men’s singles semi-finals after defeating Ukraine’s Alexander Chirkov in his second Group A match of the Tokyo Paralympic badminton event in Tokyo on September 2 as the country’s shuttlers put up a stronger performance than expected.
The 33-year-old, a defending world champion, defeated Chirkob 21-12 21-9 in 26 minutes to finish top of his group and advance to the last four in Class SL3.
“I was in the groove today and played really well. Alexander Chirkov is a good player and he played some good strokes in the match. I am very happy that I have reached the semi-finals.”
“Things are going to get tough from here once the knock out phase starts. My focus is on one match at a time and the last mixed doubles match in the league which is a do or die situation for us. Bhagat and Palak Kohli will play Siripong Teamrom and Nipada Sensupa in the mixed doubles category SL3-SU5 on September 3.
Other Indian shuttlers including Suhas Yathiraj, Tarun Dhillon and Krishna Nagar also had a good day at the office as they started their men’s singles campaign effectively.
Suhas and Tarun registered easy victories over Germany’s Jan Niklas Pot and Thailand’s Siripong Timarom in the SL4 category, while second seed Krishna defeated Malaysia’s Taresoh Didin in the SH6 category.
Young Palak also defeated Turkey’s Zehra Baglar in her second women’s singles match of Group A.
38-year-old Suhas took just 19 minutes to beat Pot 21-9, 21-3 in a one-sided Group A match, while 27-year-old Tarun didn’t break a sweat after beating Team Rome 21-7, 21-13. A Group B match that lasted 23 minutes.
In a 33-minute Group B match, Krishna registered a 22-20 21-10 win over Didin.
Suhas will face Indonesia’s Harry Susanto and top seed Lucas Mazur of France, while second seed Tarun will face Korea’s Shin Kyung Hwan and Indonesia’s Freddy Setiawan.
The 22-year-old will take on Brazil’s Vitor Gonçalves Tavares on Friday.
Suhas, who has a fractured ankle, has been at the forefront of the fight against the COVID-19 menace as the district magistrate of Uttar Pradesh’s Gautam Buddh Nagar.
Tarun, on the other hand, suffered a serious knee injury while playing football at the age of eight, as a result of which the movement of the knee was limited. He is the current world number 2 and a two-time former world champion.
Krishna, who has a short stature, is the second world number in SH6. He has won bronze and silver in singles and doubles at the 2019 World Championships.
In the SL classification, individuals with standing/lower limb impairment/severe are allowed to compete, while SU refers to athletes with upper limb impairment.
In the women’s singles SU5 category, Kohli defeated Zehra 21-12 21-18 in 27 minutes. She lost her first match to Ayako Suzuki of Japan.
Earlier in the day, 19-year-old Kohli and his partner 48-year-old Parul Parmar lost 7-21 5-21 to second seed Chinese pair of Cheng Hefang and Ma Huihui in a Group B women’s doubles SL3-SU5 class match. .
The Indian pair will take on French pair of Lenig Morin and Faustin Noel on Friday.
Parmar, competing in the SL3 category, was no match for Cheng Hefang of China, losing 8-21, 2-21 in 18 minutes in a women’s singles Group D match at the Yoyogi National Stadium here.
Parmar will meet Germany’s Katrin Seibert later in the day.
Suhas, who qualified after the game’s governing body BWF gave India a bipartisan quota, said he is looking forward to his match against top seed and title favorite Mazur on Friday.
“We have gone face to face on the circuit leading up to the Paralympics and I have lost some and won some against him. It will be a good challenge,” he said.
“Because of his height, his strokes come from a certain depth, which usually you are not used to, but I have specially trained for it. I am sure he will also train specially for me. Suhas said that he has specially trained for his match against Mazur.
“My coaches used to stand on a chair. I wanted to be mobile. My coach used to give the shuttle one position first, and then the other. A real match is different, but you do your best,” he said.
Badminton is making its Paralympic debut this year.
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