India’s dream run at Paralympics continues with shooting, badminton golds, 2 other medals
Bhagat, Narwal do what Sumit Antil and Avani Lekhara did on Monday—clinch two gold medals in one day taking India’s medal count to 17
TOKYO: Shooter Manish Narwal smashed a Games record while shuttler Pramod Bhagat yet again asserted his supremacy with his gold-winning performance as India’s tally swelled to 17 after a four-medal show at the Tokyo Paralympics, here on Saturday.
The 19-year-old Narwal shot a total of
218.2, a Paralympic record, for gold in P4
Mixed 50m Pistol SH1 event while Bhagat defeated Great Britain’s Daniel Bethell in the men’s singles SL3 class final for a historic gold.
India now have four gold, seven silver and six bronze medals to be placed 26th with one day left in the Games.
India had won just four medals in the last edition in Rio while the total count from the 1972 edition when the country competed for the first time till these Tokyo Games was 12.
More medals are in store for India on the final day on with shuttlers Suhas Yathiraj and Krishna Nagar sailing into the men’s singles finals of SL4 class and SH6 class respectively. Tarun Dhillon too stayed in contention for a bronze after losing his semi-finals while the duo of Bhagat and Palak Kohli will also feature in the thirdplace play-off in the mixed SL3SL5 class.
Narwal smashed the Paralympic record to clinch India’s third gold of the current edition of the Games while Singhraj Adhana bagged the silver to make it a sensational one-two finish for the country.
LUCKNOW/MUMBAI: As the shuttle kissed the net tape and trickled over, Pramod Bhagat dropped his racquet. He squatted a bit, turned around, ran to his coach and leapt and wrapped himself around him. The two teary-eyed men moved in a circle as they held that pose for seconds together.
“He just jumped on me. With that much weight on me, I should have fallen. But somehow I got the power,” coach Gaurav Khanna said over phone. “Neither of us is too emotionally expressive. I guess today he got a bit too emotional.”
Why wouldn’t he be? What could one ask more than winning a gold medal in his very first Paralympics while also giving the country its first ever medal in the sport? Bhagat got to live the perfect dream when he defeated Great Britain’s Daniel Bethell 21-14, 21-17 in the badminton SL3 final at the Tokyo Paralympics on Saturday.
“All my emotions came out. Winning a medal at the Paralympics is a big achievement and I managed to win gold,” Bhagat said.
Affected by polio as a fouryear-old, Bhagat— he hails from Vaishali in Bihar but is settled in Odisha— picked up badminton in his teens, after playing cricket while growing up. After competing with able-bodied athletes in his early days—he even became a district champion—bhagat shifted to para badminton, where he turned into a mighty force. The 33-year-old is a multiple-time world championships medallist, winner of the 2018 Asian Para Games and had 15 international medals to flaunt before heading to Tokyo as world No. 1 in the SL3 category (athletes with minor lower limb impairment). None felt sweeter than his first Paralympic medal in badminton, which
made its debut in Tokyo.
“Around 2017 I went through a downfall and a loss in form, but I picked up again. I believe you will face plenty of setbacks in life, but if you have the patience to cross those hurdles, you will definitely be a medallist one day. A Paralympic gold medallist,” Bhagat said, flashing a wide grin during an interaction organised by the Paralympic Committee of India and Eurosport after his historic win.
Staying true to his fun-loving nature on and off the court, Bhagat didn’t press the panic button against two-time European champion Bethell, who looked set to take the Indian into the decider. Bhagat, a canny operator (only half of the court is used in the SL3 category) who attacks and defends with equal efficiency, overturned a 3-6 deficit into a 11-8 lead in the first game before sealing it 21-14.
But the southpaw found the going tough in the second game. The second seeded Bethell, who also played tennis, raced to an 8-2 lead, which became a healthy 11-4. A comeback for Bhagat in the set looked difficult at the break, although not for Khanna.
Khanna took Bhagat back to their daily training sessions with the national squad in Lucknow, where the third session in the evening is reserved for simulating match situations. The winner would be given little treats, like fresh coconut water, and Pramod, usually given situations where he is trailing, won a lot. “I reminded him of that, saying, “Pramod, tu kitni baar jeeta hai aise (you have won like this so many times)”,” Khanna said of their conversation during the break. “He has won many matches coming from behind, and I just had to refresh that in his mind.”
Bhagat narrowed the deficit gradually, managing the drift well and keeping his nerves. After catching up at 15-all, Bhagat conceded only two more points before putting the battle to bed.
Playing simultaneously in the adjoining court was Manoj Sarkar, who claimed bronze in the same category after brushing aside home favourite Daisuke Fujihara 22-20, 21-13. Sarkar, like Bhagat, was afflicted by polio as a child and competed with able-bodied athletes before being made aware of para sports in 2011.
“Ideally, I would have loved to be sitting in both the corners,” national para coach Khanna said with a laugh. “Manoj played a very aggressive game today, from the beginning to end. He showed his confidence playing against a local player, which was the key to success.”
Two more assured
In the semi-finals earlier on Saturday, Bhagat defeated Fujihara 21-11, 21-16, while Sarkar lost to Bethell 8-21, 10-21. Apart from winning the two medals, India also confirmed a couple more.
Noida’s district magistrate Suhas Yathiraj booked his place in the final of the SL4 category, brushing aside Indonesia’s Fredy Setiawan 21-9, 21-15. Joining in Sunday’s title clash was
Krishna Nagar, who beat Great Britain’s Krysten Coombs 21-10, 21-11 in the women’s SH6 semifinals. Tarun Dhillon though lost to France’s Luca Mazur 16-21, 21-16, 18-21 in the SL4 semi-final and will now fight for bronze.
Bhagat could well win a second medal on Sunday, in the mixed doubles with young Palak Kohli. The pair will fight for bronze in the SL3-SU5 category, after losing 3-21, 15-21 to Indonesia’s Susanto Hary and Leani Ratri Oktila in the semifinals.
Creating own “bio bubble” It’s been far from easy for these shuttlers heading to Tokyo. During the lockdown last year, they were forced to create their own bio bubble in Lucknow. In April, the likes of
Bhagat and Kohli along with Khanna created a makeshift open court in a park to continue training. Most shuttlers, and Khanna, spent their money to run the day-to-day activities, even getting a cook and domestic help to stay with them.
They made the Guru Gobind Singh Sports College their training base before moving to the UP Badminton Academy, the Sports Authority of India centre and finally the Gaurav Khanna Excellia Badminton Academy on the outskirts of the city as the situation eased.
“We shifted to a small place during the lockdown where every shuttler had his/her own room and some facilities. We created our own world where nothing could stop us in our mission,” Khanna said.