By winning the gold medal in the men’s singles SL3 category, world No 1 Pramod Bhagat created history by becoming the first Indian to win a badminton medal at the Tokyo Paralympics on Saturday. Compatriot Manoj Sarkar doubled India’s joy by winning the bronze medal in the same category.

Playing Daniel Bethell in the gold medal match, Bhagat took the first game rather easily but the athlete from Great Britain found a nice rhythm at the start of the second game to take a 12-4 lead.

At this point, many players might have started thinking about the third game but Bhagat stuck in there and showed his class to complete a 21-14, 21-17 win in 45 minutes.

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Sarkar’s match was being played simultaneously on Court 3 and his first game was a much tighter one but after winning it, he breezed through the second game to secure the bronze medal. He won 22-20, 21-13 in 47 minutes.

Here are some reactions to two wonderful matches:

Pramod Bhagat

Manoj Sarkar