Gold rush for Indian shuttlers in Brazil

Nithya Sivan, Kumar Nitesh, Pramod Bhagat and Sukant Kadam

India's Nithya Sre Sumathy Sivan claimed twin gold medals following a stellar run at the Brazil Para-Badminton International here. The 18-year-old Nithya defeated Peru's Giuliana Poveda Flores 22-20, 21-11 in the women's singles SH6 category finals to win the gold medal. She also combined with Sivarajan Solaimalai to beat Hong Kong's Chu Man Kai and Choi Wing Kei 21-11, 21-17 in the mixed doubles SH6 final.

The participants of SH6 classification comprises ‘standing/short stature' players. Tokyo Paralympic champion Pramod Bhagat and Sukant Kadam also struck gold in the men's doubles after defeating Korean pair of Joo Dongjae and Shin Kyung Hwan 22-20, 21-19 in finals of SL3-SL4 class. The SL3/SL4 class has players who play standing with severe/minor lower limb impairment.

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Bhagat also signed off with a singles silver after losing 12-21, 13-21 to fellow Indian Kumar Nitesh in SL3 category, while Sukant secured a bronze. Among others, Tarun claimed a silver after losing 7-21, 13-21 to France's Lucas Mazur in the summit clash. Manasi Joshi too settled for a silver after losing 11-21, 21-18, 0-21 to Turkey's Halime Tildiz.

Men's pairing of Chirag Baretha and Raj Kumar also bagged a silver after losing 13-21, 18-21 to Malaysian Muhammad Fareez Anuar and Cheah Liek Hou. Nitesh also combined with Thulasimathi Murugesan but couldn't get across Hikmat Ramdani and Leani Ratri Oktila, losing 18-21, 9-21 in the finals. Thulasimathi Murugesan, however, won the women's singles SU5 finals, beating France's Maud Lefort 21-12, 21-18 to win the gold.

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