SportsAsian Para Games
Nitesh Kumar beats Pramod Bhagat in all-Indian final as Naveen Sivakumar adds badminton gold
Two Paralympic champions met for the SL3 title in Nagoya, debutant Naveen won the SL4 crown, and Thulasimathi Murugesan and Nithya Sre Sivan took silver.
Key points
- Nitesh Kumar beat Pramod Bhagat 21-18, 21-16 for the men's SL3 singles gold.
- Naveen Sivakumar won the SL4 title on his Games debut, beating Indonesia's Fredy Setiawan.
- Thulasimathi Murugesan and Nithya Sre Sivan both lost finals to Chinese players.
Two Paralympic champions, one gold medal. Nitesh Kumar beat his India team-mate Pramod Bhagat 21-18, 21-16 in the men’s SL3 singles final at the Asian Para Games on Friday morning, giving India gold and silver in one of the most anticipated matches of the badminton programme in Nagoya.
It was a final between two players who have defined Indian para badminton in recent years. Both have won Paralympic gold, and Pramod came into the match as the reigning Asian champion in the class, having won the title in 2018 and 2022. Nitesh, the steadier of the two on the day, edged the first game and pulled away in the second.
Pramod was left to rue a handful of shots. He said he “had everything” going into the final but that some strokes had let him down.
A debut to remember
Minutes later India had a second badminton gold. Naveen Sivakumar, playing in his first Asian Para Games, beat Indonesia’s Fredy Setiawan 21-9, 21-17 in 36 minutes to win the men’s SL4 singles.
“Feeling very happy and proud,” Naveen said after the win.
Silver for Thulasimathi and Nithya
The two women’s finals went to China. Thulasimathi Murugesan lost the SU5 singles final 18-21, 11-21 to Yang Qiuxia at the Ichinomiya City Municipal Gymnasium. Nithya Sre Sivan was beaten 12-21, 13-21 by Li Fengmei in the SH6 final, a match that lasted 26 minutes. Both took silver.
Thulasimathi’s day was far from over. She was due back on court for two doubles finals in the SL3-SU5 class: the women’s event with Manasi Joshi, against Yang and Xiao Zuxian, and the mixed event with Nitesh, against Indonesia’s Leani Ratri Oktila and Hikmat Ramdani, which was scheduled for 3 pm IST.
Part of a big Indian day
The badminton medals came on the fifth day of competition, which also brought gold in para archery for Harvinder Singh and Vijay Sundi, and later in the morning world records on the track and in the field for Sandeep and Haney, which took India past 100 medals in Aichi-Nagoya. By early afternoon the count stood at 103, with 27 gold, leaving India fourth on a table led by China and closing on their best-ever haul of 111 from Hangzhou in 2023.
India’s badminton squad has been one of the strongest at the Games, and an all-Indian SL3 final was a measure of its depth.