 "Paris Paralympics 2024: Nitesh, Yathiraj, Murugesan assured of at least a silver after reaching respective finals")
Nitesh Kumar confirmed India’s third medal in para-badminton in the ongoing Paris Paralympics after comfortably defeating Japan’s Daisuke Fujihara in the men’s singles SL3 semi-finals on Sunday.
Paris Paralympics 2024: News | Medal Tally | India Schedule
Nitesh defeated Fujihara in straight games (21-16, 21-12) to advance to the final and thereby assure India of at least a silver in the category.
Later on Sunday, Suhas Yathiraj confirmed a second medal in as many editions of the Paralympics after defeating Sukant Kadam 21-17, 21-12 in an all Indian men’s singles SL4 semi-final.
That was not the only all-Indian semi-final in badminton on Sunday evening though, as Thulasimathi Murugesan would go on to register a tense 23-21, 21-17 victory over Manisha Ramadass in the final event of the fourth day to advance to the women’s singles SU5 final.
While the trio of Nitesh, Yathiraj and Murugesan will be fighting for gold on Monday, Kadam and Ramadass will be competing in the bronze medal playoffs.
And joining Kadam and Ramadass is Nithya Sre Sumathy Sivan, who suffered a 21-13, 21-19 defeat against China’s Lin Shuangbao.
Yathiraj had won silver in the Tokyo 2020 Olympics and will be hoping to upgrade his medal to gold in Paris. He has won gold in the World Championships as well as in the Asian Para-Games, and will be hoping to add a Paralympic gold to his collection on Monday.
The 41-year-old para-shuttler from Karnataka is also an IAS officer of the 2007 batch and has served as District Magistrate of Gautam Buddha Nagar as well as Prayagraj.
Nitesh, on the other hand, is making his Paralympic debut in Paris and has ensured he stands on the podium in the final round of badminton fixtures on Monday.
He had earlier won men’s doubles gold in the Asian Para-Games last year along with a silver in the same event, besides winning two silvers and a bronze across three editions of the World Championships.
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