Shuttler Bhagat in semis; Suhas, Krishna win too

Pramod Bhagat

World No. 1 Pramod Bhagat sailed into the men's singles semi-finals after beating Ukraine's Oleksandr Chyrkov in his second Group A match of the Tokyo Paralympics badminton event here on Thursday as the country's shuttlers expectedly produced strong performances.

Bhagat, 33, also a reigning world champion, saw off Chyrkov 21-12, 21-9 in 26 minutes to top his group and enter the Last 4 in class SL3.

"I was in the groove today and played really well. Oleksandr Chyrkov is a good player and played some good strokes in the match. I am very happy that I have reached the semi-finals," Bhagat said.

"Things are going to be tough from here as the knock out stages start. My focus is on one match at a time and also the last league game of the mixed doubles which is a do-or-die situation for us."

Bhagat and Palak Kohli will play Siripong Teamarrom and Nipada Saensupa in mixed doubles class SL3-SU5 on Friday.

Other Indian shuttlers, including Suhas Yathiraj, Tarun Dhillon and Krishna Nagar also had a good day in office as they opened their men's singles campaign impressively.

While Suhas and Tarun notched up easy victories over Germany's Jan Niklas Pott and Thailand's Siripong Teamarrom respectively, second seed Krishna outwitted Malaysia's Taresoh Didin.

Young Palak also overcame Turkey's Zehra Baglar in her second women's singles match of Group A.

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