Pramod makes impressive start
Tokyo, Sept. 1: World number one shuttler Pramod Bhagat made an impressive start to his campaign in the men’s singles competition but young Palak Kohli endured a tough day at the Tokyo Paralympics, here on Wednesday.
Bhagat, the reigning world champion, outwitted fellow Indian Manoj Sarkar 21-10, 21-23, 21-9 in his men’s singles group A class SL3 opener that lasted 56 minutes.
The 33-year-old, who had contracted polio during his childhood, will face Ukraine’s Oleksandr Chyrkov on Thursday.
Manoj too will clash with Chyrkov on Friday.
Earlier, Kohli had a difficult day in office as she suffered defeats in both her women’s singles and mixed doubles matches.
Up against Japan’s Ayako Suzuki, a gold medallist at the 2009 World Championships, the 19year-old Kohli lost 4-21, 7-21 in just 19 minutes in a group A women singles class SU5 match.
Kohli, whose left arm is under-developed since birth, will next take on Turkey’s Zehra Baglar on Thursday.
Kohli and Bhagat had earlier gone down fighting against second seeds Lucas Mazur and Faustine Noel in the mixed doubles group B opener here.
● Pramod Bhagat, the reigning world champion, outwitted fellow Indian Manoj Sarkar 21-10, 21-23, 21-9 in his men’s singles Group A class SL3 opener that lasted 56 minutes.
LEKHARA FAILS IN MIXED AIR RIFLE EVENT
Shooter Avani Lekhara, who became India’s first female gold medallist in Paralympic Games two days ago, failed to replicate her success as she crashed out in the qualification round of the mixed 10m Air Rifle Prone SH1 event here on Wednesday.
The SH1 (Rifle) allows individuals with no impairment in the upper limbs but an impairment in either/both the lower limbs to compete.
Lekhara was not at her usual best as she she finished a disappointing 27th with a score of 629.7, crashing out in the third round.
Other Indian para shooters in the men’s event, Sidhartha Babu and Deepak Kumar witnessed a horrible outing, finishing 40th and 43rd respectively with scores of 625.5 and 624.9 at the Asaka Shooting Range.
SWIMMER SUYAHSH DISAPPOINTS
Indian para swimmer Suyash Jadhav endured a disappointing outing in the men’s 100m breaststroke SB7 final as he was disqualified for a rule violation here on Wednesday.
Jadhav was disqualified as he didn’t comply with World Para Swimming’s rule number 11.4.1, which states that “at any time prior to the first breaststroke kick after the start and after each turn, a single butterfly kick is permitted.”
He was found to have “performed more than one fly kick after the turn”.