Team India finish with 10 medals at Brazil Para Badminton International

Team India put up a brilliant performance at the BWF Brazil Para Badminton International in Sao Paulo. Indian para badminton players performed brilliantly winning 10 medals.

An all Indian clash marked the end to a brilliant performance by Indian para badminton players at the BWF Brazil Para Badminton International 2020 at Sao Paolo. Pramod Bhagat and Manoj Sarkar battled it out in the finals of the SL-3 men’s singles category with Pramod winning the match.

Two gold medals for Pramod Bhagat

This was a double crown for Pramod who along with fellow player Manoj beat China’s Chen Xiaoyu and Gao Yuyang in the Sl-3/SL-4 men’s doubles final.

In SL-4 men’s singles final, Suhas Yathiraj beat top seed Lucas Mazur of France making it three gold medals for India in this tournament.

The highlight was Pramod’s performance but I am a bit disheartened with the performance of players in SL4 draw because all the three players who by virtue of ranking qualify for the Paralympics like Sukant, Tarun and Suhas are in the same round and just one has to go up. Players are improving consistently and we are seeing that. Suhas beat Lucas so that’s a barrier broken, making it a wonderful performance this time. Players are doing well in all categories and we have a strong presence in the finals this time. – Gaurav Khanna, Head Coach, Indian para badminton team

India won 5 silver medals in the event. The honours went to Manoj Sarkar, Krishna Nagar, Prem Kumar (Mixed Double WH1 – WH2), Rajkumar and Rakesh Pandey (Men’s Double SU5) and Parul Parmar who lost in the Women’s Single – SL3 final category to In Halime Yildiz.

The two bronze medals were won by Sukant Kadam in the Men’s Single SL4 and Rajkumar-Parul Parmar in the Mixed Doubles-SU5 category.

“I am a little concerned about the short time available in between the tournaments and the extensive traveling for the players”, says Khanna. “That’s an area of concern. Otherwise we are very happy with the performance and with some rest they could do even better”.

The venue for the tournament was changed at the last minute out of concerns over the Corona Virus. The venue was shifted from the Brazil Paralympic Committee headquarters which is also home for the training of the national teams of athletics, swimming, table tennis, and sitting volleyball, among others.

All potential medallists from Brazil at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games are training at the Paralympic Centre. Even one single confirmed case of Coronavirus would have put everyone training at the centre at risk.

The Brazil Para Badminton International 2020 is the first of three remaining tournaments that fall within the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games qualifying period that ends on 2 April.

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