Reigning world champions Pramod Bhagat and Manasi Joshi had been amongst Indian stars who made it to the knockout stage of the third Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid Al Maktoum Dubai Para Badminton International 2021 on the Shabab Al Ahli Club right here. Top seeds Parul Parmar (WSSL3) and Krishna Nagar (MS SH6) additionally received their respective singles and doubles matches in emphatic method on Thursday. Bhagat, the reigning world champion, mentioned he’s aiming for nothing lower than gold in his singles and males’s doubles SL3-SL4 the place he’s paired with Manoj Sarkar.
He will face Ukun Rukaendi in his males’s singles SL3 quarter-finals on Friday. The Indian defeated newcomer from Maldives Abdul Latheef Mohamed 21-10, 21-9 in his third-round singles match.
However, second seed Manasi was stretched to the restrict earlier than beating Turkey’s Halime Yildiz 21-13, 13-21, 21-17 in a 38-minute ladies’s singles SL3 Group B match.
“It’s always tough to play against Halime, a strong opponent. She played very well and gave a tough fight. I also made a few mistakes which I will try to avoid as we progress to the next round. Felt a lot of energy in the whole stadium today,” she mentioned.
On Wednesday, Manasi needed to overcome her Ukrainian opponent Oksana Kozyna in three units in her second-round match.
With simply 4 gamers within the fray, Manasi and Parul are anticipated to play the ladies’s singles SL3 finals. Parmar in reality had received two out of three doubles matches additionally alongside Palak Kohli in ladies’s doubles SL3-SU5.
The spotlight of the day was Nitesh Kumar pulling off a shock win over third seed Indonesia Ukun Rukaendi 21-10, 21-13 in males’s singles SH3 third spherical match.
“It feels great to win against a high ranked player and especially against a player who has been a world champion and is consistent about his performance. This boosts my confidence for the upcoming matches,” mentioned Nitesh.
Meanwhile, third seed Sukant Kadam who ran out a 21-11, 21-18 victor in opposition to Turkey’s Sedat Tuemkaya in his males’s singles SL4 match mentioned:
“As we still didn’t enter into real computation, these initial rounds were a bit easy. But match by match I am getting to know how the other players are playing. This is also a good assessment of our own games,” he mentioned.
Kadam is anticipated to face Indonesia’s Freddy Setiawan within the semi-finals.
