India were assured of a second medal in badminton with Manisha Ramadass setting up a women’s singles SU5 semifinals duel with compatriot Thulasimathi Murugesan at the Paris Paralympics on Sunday. The 19-year-old Manisha, who was born with Erb’s palsy which affected her right arm, had no trouble in dispatching Japan’s Mamiko Toyoda 21- 13 21-16 in the quarterfinals. Erb’s palsy is a nerve disorder in the shoulder and arm that results in weakness or loss of muscle function. The second seeded Indian left-hander needed 30 minutes to down her unseeded rival.
In the last four, Manisha will meet top seed Thulasimathi, who had defeated Portugal’s Beatriz Monteiro in group A on Saturday.
In SU5 category, the players have impairment of the upper limbs. The impairment could be on the playing or non-playing hand.
On Saturday, Sukant Kadam earned the right to take on compatriot Suhas Yathiraj in SL4 semifinals to assure the country its first medal in badminton from this edition of the Games.
However, Mandeep Kaur and Palak Kohli were eliminated following contrasting defeats in their respective quarterfinals on Sunday.
Competing in SL3 category, Mandeep hardly posed a challenge to Nigeria’s third seed Bolaji Mariam Eniola, losing the contest 8-21 9-21 in 23 minutes.
It was the second consecutive defeat for Mandeep against Eniola, having lost to the Nigerian in the group stage as well.
SL3 category is for players with severe lower-limb disability competing on a half-width court.
In SL4 category, para world championship bronze medallist Palak went down fighting 19-21 15-21 to Indonesia’s Khalimatus Sadiyah in 28 minutes.
SL4 is a class for athletes competing while standing with less severe impairment than in SL3.
Later in the day, Nithya Sivan Sumathy will compete in the last-eight stage in SH6 category against Poland’s Oliwia Szmigiel.
The men’s singles semifinal in SL4 category will be an all-Indian affair with Yathiraj and Kadam clashing against each other.
Nitesh Kumar will fight it out with Japan’s Daisuke Fujihara in the men’s singles semifinal in SL3 category.
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