Suhas Yathiraj.
| Photo Credit: X@bwfmedia
India’s Suhas Yathiraj, Pramod Bhagat and Krishna Nagar capped their spectacular run by securing gold medals in males’s singles SL4, SL3 and SH6 class respectively at the Para Badminton World Championship in Pattaya on February 25.
The world No. 3 Yathiraj, a Paralymic silver medallist, outwitted Indonesia’s Fredy Setiawan 21-18 21-18 in SL4 closing (standing/decrease limb impairment/minor) for her maiden world title.
“Gold it is, happy and proud to be world champion,” tweeted the 40-year-old Yathiraj, who hails from Karnataka and is an IAS officer of the 2007 batch of Uttar Pradesh cadre.
Yathiraj, who has an impairment in certainly one of his ankles, is at present the secretary and director normal of Youth Welfare and Prantiya Rakshak Dal within the U.P. authorities.
Tokyo Paralymic gold medallist Bhagat, who received a gold and two bronze at the Para Asian Games in China, edged out England’s Daniel Bethell 14-21 21-15 21-14 in SL3 (standing/decrease limb impairment/extreme) closing.
Bhagat thus accomplished a hat-trick of crowns after Stoke Mandeville in 2015 and Basel in 2019. He additionally received a gold medal at 2022 Tokyo and 2009 Seoul version.
“This win holds a very special place in my heart for various reasons,” mentioned the Bihar-born shuttler, one of many six siblings, who was recognized with polio when he was 5 years outdated.
“First being that I have managed to equal my idol Lin Dan’s record of five world championships and second being having been able to retain three consecutive world championships.”
Apart from the gold, the 35-year-old additionally received two bronze medals in males’s doubles and combined doubles together with Sukant Kadam and Manisha Ramadass respectively. The three medals took his tally to 14, which incorporates 6 gold, 3 silver, 5 bronze throughout classes.
In SH6 class (standing/quick stature), Krishna Nagar, a Paralympic gold medal winner, additionally emerged champion after prevailing 22-20 22-20 over China’s Lin Naili in one other males’s singles closing.
In ladies’s singles SU5 (standing/higher limb impairment), Manisha Ramadass signed off with a silver medal after dropping 16-21 16-21 to China’s Yang Qiu Xia within the closing.
The males’s doubles pair of Chirag Baretha and Raj Kumar and ladies’s doubles mixture of Rachana Shaileshkumar and Nithya Sre Sumathy Sivan settled for a silver every, after dropping their respective closing matches in SU5 and SH6 classes.
In ladies’s doubles (SL3-SU5) class, Manasi Joshi and Thulasimathi Murugesan additionally signed off with a silver medal after dropping 20-22 17-21 to Indonesian mixture of Leani Ratri Oktila and Khalimatus Sadiyah within the closing.
Bhagat vs Bethell
Pramod and Bethell take pleasure in a wholesome rivalry with the England shuttler having received 11 instances in 17 conferences.
The closing turned out to be an exhaustive and tight contest because the duo engaged in a slugfest for an hour and 40 minutes.
“This match with Bethell would be my toughest both mentally and physically. I have not been playing well against Bethell past few months and this was my time to prove doubters wrong.
“The match was exhaustive and Bethell performed brilliantly however someway, I managed to tug out a win,” Bhagat mentioned.
