SportsPara Sports
India open Asian Para Games campaign two days before the ceremony
Para badminton, para table tennis and blind football get under way in Aichi on Friday. Suhas Yathiraj, Krishna Nagar, Manasi Joshi and Bhavina Patel are among the first Indians on court.
Key points
- India play 26 para badminton pool matches on the first day.
- Bhavina Patel opens her Class 4-5 campaign against Kuwait's A. Alrasheedi.
- The men's blind football team meets South Korea at 9 am IST.
India’s athletes begin competing at the fifth Asian Para Games on Friday, two days before the opening ceremony in Nagoya, with para badminton, para table tennis and blind football starting early in Japan’s Aichi prefecture.
The badminton hall is where India’s day is busiest. Indian players are down for 26 pool matches, starting at 5:30 am IST, and the first-day line-up includes some of the country’s best-known para shuttlers. Suhas Yathiraj plays Bangladesh’s J. Dhar in men’s SL4 singles at 7:05 am IST, Manasi Joshi faces China’s L. Yuemei in women’s SL3 at 9:30 am, and Krishna Nagar meets Chinese Taipei’s J. Lin in men’s SH6 at 12:30 pm.
There is an all-Indian men’s doubles SL3-SU5 match in the afternoon, with Nitesh and Ruthick up against Suhas and Abhijeet Sakhuja. In mixed doubles, Manisha and Pramod take on a Chinese pair.
In para table tennis, Bhavina Patel starts her women’s Class 4-5 singles group against Kuwait’s A. Alrasheedi at 7:10 am, at the same time as Baby Sahana Ravi and Subham Wadhwa begin their campaigns.
The men’s blind football team opens against South Korea at 9 am.
Bhavina and Bhagat will carry India’s flag at the opening ceremony on 18 October. India have sent 168 athletes across 11 sports to the Games, which formally run from 18 to 24 October.
“It is a very proud moment for me to be chosen as India’s flag bearer.”
Bhagat has six Asian Para Games medals, two of them gold, and Bhavina has a silver and a bronze.