New Delhi: Tarun Dhillon and Sukant Kadam clinched a gold and silver respectively in SL4 class, while Tokyo Paralympic champion Pramod Bhagat bagged two bronze in SL3 as the Indian team secured 28 medals at the Brazil Para Badminton International in Sao Paulo.
In total, the Indian para badminton squad clinched 8 gold, 7 silver and 13 bronze to sign off a creditable campaign on Sunday. In SL4 category, world No. 3 Kadam defeated Germany's Marcel Adam 21-19 21-13 but he went down to fellow Indian Tarun in the final.
Read: IPL 2022 Playoff scenarios: Team standings, Mumbai conundrum, top contenders in Points Table
Both Tarun and Kadam fought till the end but it was the former who emerged victories in the end, claiming a 21-17 20-22 21-18 win to capture the yellow metal. Kadam said: "I am disappointed by the result a little as I had given my everything in the game. I think Tarun played really well and held nerves at crucial points. Every tournament I am playing, my game is improving and I am happy with the progress."
World No. 1 Bhagat also went down to compatriot Kumar Nitesh 7-21 21-19 19-21 in a closely fought 50-minute match. Nitesh went on to win the gold, defeating Japan's Daisuke Fujihara with a score line of 21-15 18-21 21-18. In the mixed doubles, Pramod and Palak Kohli went down fighting to Japan's Daisuke Fujihara and Akiko Sugino in three sets.
Apart from Nitesh and Tarun, Parul Parmar (SL3), Jyoti Verma (SL4), Manisha Ramdas (SU5), Hardik Makkar-Ruthik Raghupathi (SU5), Arwaz Ansari-Deep Ranjan Bisoyee (SL3-SL4) and Manisha Ramdas-Mandeep Kaur (SL3-SU5) also won gold medals at the tournament.
Read: Many sporting giants have gone through this phase...that happens: Rohit on MI's dismal run this IPL
Prem Kumar Ale (WH1), Mandeep Kaur (SL3), Nithya Sre (SH6), Palak Kohli-Parul Parmar (SL3-SU5), Chirag Baretha-Mandeep Kaur (SL3-SU5) and Tarun Dhillon-Nitesh Kumar (SL3-SL4) also returned with silver medals. Among bronze winners, Manoj Sarkar (SL3), Nilesh Gaikwad (SL4), Dhingaram (SH6), Ammu Mohan (WH2), Manoj Sarkar-Vikram Kumar (SL3-SL4), Chirag Baretha-Nilesh Gaikwad (SU5), Prem Kumar Ale-Abu Hubaida (WH1-WH2), Shashank Kumar-Ammu Mohan (WH1-WH2), Ammu Mohan (WH1-WH2), Arati Patil (SL3-SU5) and Nithya Sre-Latatai Umrekar (SH6) and Pramod Bhagat-Palak Kohli (SL3-SU5) were the prominent names.
PTI
