India’s Pramod Bhagat defended his men’s singles SL3 title as he defeated England’s Daniel Bethell in a hard-fought final at the 2024 Para Badminton World Championships in Pattaya, Thailand on Sunday.
The 35-year-old Bhagat came from behind to beat his arch-rival 14-21, 21-15, 21-15 in a contest which lasted an hour and 40 minutes.
The win marked a fourth singles world title for Bhagat, who has previously won the same medal thrice in 2015, 2019, and 2022. He also has a men’s doubles gold at the global championships from the 2013 edition.
The win also saw Bhagat snap a three-match losing streak against Bethell, whom he had defeated to win a gold medal at the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics three years ago.
“This match with Bethell would be my toughest both mentally and physically,” Bhagat said. “I have not been playing well against Bethell past few months and this was my time to prove doubters wrong. The match was exhaustive and Bethell played brilliantly but somehow, I managed to pull out a win.”
Earlier in the day, Suhas Yathiraj started India’s gold medal rush as he beat Fredy Setiawan of Indonesia 21-18, 21-18 in straight games to clinch the men’s singles SL4 title.
The 40-year-old Asian Games champion never looked in any trouble as he cruised to the gold medal in just 37 minutes.
Krishna Nagar, competing in the men’s SH6 section, brushed off a stiff challenge from China’s Lin Naili to win his first-ever World Championships gold. He registered a 22-20, 22-20 win in a contest which lasted 29 minutes.
Nagar, who is the reigning Paralympics champion in SH6, had previously won a bronze medal in men’s singles at the World Championships back in 2019.
On the other hand, reigning world champion Manisha Ramadass went down 16-21, 16-21 to Yang Qiu Xia of China in the women’s singles SU5 final to take home the silver medal.
The men’s doubles SU5 pair of Chirag Baretha and Raj Kumar also won a silver medal after losing 17-21, 18-21 to the pair from Malaysia, whereas the women’s doubles SL3-SU5 pair of Manasi Joshi and Thulasimathi Murugesan also lost 20-22, 17-21 in the final against the pair from Indonesia.
The women’s doubles SH6 pair of Rachana Patel and Nithya Sri also won a silver medal after retiring midway from their final against China.
Buy an annual Scroll Membership to support independent journalism and get special benefits.
Our journalism is for everyone. But you can get special privileges by buying an annual Scroll Membership. Sign up today!