Almost 14 months after winning India’s first-ever Paralympic gold medal in para badminton, para commuters Pramod Bhagat and Krishna Nagar will return to the courts at Yoyogi Stadium as they lead a strong 38-member squad at the 2022 BWF Para Badminton World Championships starting on Tuesday. .
Bhagat, the five-time world champion, will be the favorite for the ‘Standing Lower SL3’ men’s singles title while Nagar, the third seed in the ‘Standing Short Stature (SH6)’ men’s singles, will be aiming to repeat his success at the stadium where he has won two gold medals so far.
The Paralympic stars are joined by world medalists and Tokyo 2020 stars, including defending champion Manasi Joshi (WS SL3), Tokyo 2020 Paralympic medalists Suhas Yathiraj (MS SL4) and Manoj Sarkar (MS SL3) in the contingent who arrived here on Sunday.
With 20 flyers making their World Championship debuts, India will this time field a balanced squad with both experienced and young flyers ready to shine on the big stage.
National head coach Gaurav Khanna is hoping for more medals than Basel 2019 after months of training and expects at least 15 medals including several gold.
“For me the most important thing is to be in the right frame of mind before the championships and I have worked on that. The idea is to successfully defend these two titles. I want to give my 200% in every game,” said Bhagat, who trained for three months at Prakash Padukone Academy in Bengaluru.
Bhagat will be joined by second and third seeded Nitesh Kumar and Manoj Sarkar in the men’s singles SL3 with two medals expected in the category. Bhagat and Sarkar will also defend their SL 3 men’s doubles title in Tokyo.
“I just want to give my best here,” said Manoj Sarkar.
India will have a strong turnout in the women’s singles SL3 event with defending champion Manasi Joshi (first seed) leading the charge, followed by silver medalist Parul Parmar (second seed) and Mandeep Kaur (seeded third), a Worlds debutant after a string of medal-winning shows in the year.
“I am delighted to be here in Tokyo and to defend my title here. This is the first global event following the announcement of the SL3 event at the Paralympic Games. Hoping to do my best,” said Joshi, who will compete in three events – singles and doubles with partners Shanthiya Viswanathan and Ruthick Ragupathi (both seeded).
In SL4, India will bank on Yathiraj and Kadam to challenge the likes of Paralympic and World Champion Lucas Mazur and Indonesian Fredy Setiawan.
For Nagar, the world championships will be even more special as he will return to action after five months. The Worlds bronze medalist hopes to continue his good run in the hall and aim for gold.
“Happy to return to the place where I had success before. I hope I can still win here. I have been working hard over the past few months focusing on fine tuning my game and refining my shots,” said the Jaipur player.
Emerging names among the youngsters are Manisha Ramadass (SU5 Women’s Singles), Nithya Sre Sumathy Sivan (SH6 Women’s Singles) and Hardik Makkar (SU5 Men’s Singles) among others.
With a stellar year highlighted with multiple gold medals under their belt, India will be hoping Ramadass and Asian Youth Para Games champion Nithya Sre will put on a solid show at their first Worlds. “I am very very excited. It’s like a dream to compete at the Worlds. I will try to do my best,” said 17-year-old Ramadass.
The team also look strong in the doubles and mixed doubles events with new pairings in SH6 – Nagar and Nithya Sre hoping to put on a good show. The wheelchair pair of Prem Kumar Ale and Abu Hubaida are placed second in the event and are aiming for a medal this time around.
A total of 298 players will compete for honors in 22 events this week, with group matches at the 2022 BWF Para Badminton World Championships starting on Tuesday. The final will be played on November 6.
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