Top seed Nitesh Kumar overcame a tough challenge from Britain’s Daniel Bethell in the final of the Men’s Singles SL3 category badminton here on Monday, winning the gold medal with a scoreline of 21-14, 18-21, 23-21 at the La Chapelle Arena Court 1. After Avani Lekhara, it is India’s second gold medal in the 2024 Games being held in the French capital. This is India’s ninth medal in the Paris Paralympic Games, including two gold, three silver and four bronze medals.
After winning the first game 21-14, Nitesh made some unforced errors and was struggling to take control of the net. Before this, Nitesh had never beaten Bethell in ten matches he went on to produce the biggest win of his life.
It was heartbreak once again for the British para-shuttler Bethell as he had lost to India’s Promod Bhagat in the final of the 2020 Paralympic Games in Tokyo. At that time Bethell had lost to Bhagat in two games and though on Monday he put up a tougher fight, the British shuttler had to once again be satisfied with a silver medal.
It was a great performance by Nitesh as he came up with a consistent performance. He topped Group A with three successive wins to progress to the semifinal along with Thailand’s Mongkhon Bunsun from the same group.
The SL3 category is for players with movement moderately affecting one side of the body, both legs or the absence of limbs. They play standing on a half-width court and have reduced court movement but a full range of shots.
Nitesh, an IIT Mandi graduate who took to para-badminton during his time at the IIT after losing his leg in a 2009 train accident in Visakhapatnam, has been in a good form since last two years, winning multiple championships. Earlier this year, he won a gold at the 2024 BWF Para-Badminton World Championships.
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