Suhas Yathiraj stormed into the gold medal match of men's singles badminton SL4 category in the ongoing Tokyo Olympics.
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Indian badminton stars are making the nation proud in the ongoing Tokyo Paralympics, with stunning performances. Suhas Yathraj, an IAS officer has guaranteed the nation a silver medal after qualifying for the gold medal match of men’s singles SL4 final on Saturday. Suhas stormed into the final after defeating Fredy Setiawan of Indonesia by a 21-9, 21-15 margin. He will be taking on Lucas Mazur tomorrow with the desire of winning a historic gold medal.
Suhas delivered a superb performance against Fredy, giving him no chance at any stage. It was a stunning display from the Indian who raced away to a 10-0 lead before the latter could record his first point of the match. While the Indonesian attempted to make a comeback, the deficit was too big to overcome with Suhas registering a 21-9 triumph in the first game. The Indian faced sterner competition in the second game, going into the mid-game break with a 11-6 lead. Suhas picked up quick successive points to gain an eight-point lead before racing towards the matchpoint to pocket the game at 21-15.
Tarun Dhillon the other semi-finalist failed to go past Mazur, despite starting off well. He raced to a 2-0 lead before the Frenchman showcased his prowess, making a fine comeback to take a 5-11 lead. Tarun attempted his best to carve a turnaround but the world number 1 was supremely dominant wrapping it up by a 16-21 margin. The second game saw the Indian enjoying a 4-11 lead at the mid-game break, but the Frenchman showed his prowess yet again to bring the deficit down to 9-12. However, Tarun remained calm to record a 16-21 win in the second game. The decider however did not go the Indian’s way with a thrilling encounter which went down to a nail-biting 18-17 finish, eventually ending in a 18-21 defeat.
World No. 1 para-shuttler Pramod Bhagat stormed into the men’s singles badminton SL3 final of the ongoing Tokyo Paralympics on Saturday. Pramod defeated Japan’s Fujihara Daisuke in just 36 minutes in the semi-final to record a comprehensive win. The world champion defeated the Japanese shutter 21-11, 21-16, showcasing a wide array of strokes and supreme dominance. The 34-year-old looked quite comfortable against Daisuke, assuring India of another silver medal. Pramod further became India’s first paralympic badminton finalist which is commendable, to say the least. The 34-year-old will take on D. Bethell of Great Britain in the final.
A triumph for Manoj Sarkar in the other semi-final of the same event would have made the final an all Indian affair. However, he suffered a defeat against Bethell, and will be seen taking on Japan’s Fujihara in the bronze medal match.
Manoj was handed a (0-2) 8-21, 10-21 loss by the British para-athlete, with a significant lack of rhythm observed in his performance. Bethell took a 10-5 lead in the first game, following some amazing stroke play with the former soon extending the same to 17-7. The Indian shuttler was not able to make a suitable comeback, losing the first game 21-8. While Manoj took an early 1-3 lead in the second game, the British para-athlete made a soaring comeback to take a 9-7 lead. He continued to build on his advantage to extend the point tally to 16-9, eventually sealing a fine triumph.
