That’s it from us today! Do join us tomorrow for all the action from day 2 of the Paris Paralympics!
It was a good opening day for the Indian contingent with the archers and badminton players having a promising start to their campaigns. Para archery Sheetal Devi broke the women’s compound archery World Record in the qualification round but was pipped to the top spot by just a point.
But Devi did get her name on one world record today as she broke the mixed team record with Rakesh Kumar. Tokyo 2020 men’s recurve bronze medallist Harvinder Singh finished ninth in the men’s ranking round.
Indians were in action in 15 badminton matches today across different categories and won 10 of them.
Badminton, mixed doubles SL3-SU5: The pair of Suhas Yathiraj and Palak Kohli lose their second match in group A and are knocked out of semi-final contention. Up against the French pair of Lucas Mazur and Noel Faustine, the Indians lose 15-21, 9-21.
Mazur and Faustine’s win means that they will face off against the other Indian pair in group A, Nitesh Kumar and Thulasimathi Murugesan, for a place in the semi-final. Both have a win and a loss apiece so far.
Badminton, mixed doubles SL3-SU5: Nitesh Kumar and Thulasimathi Muruguesan lose in their first group A match. The Indian pair were the underdogs going into their match against world champions and top seeds Hikmat Ramdani and Leani Ratri Oktila. The Indonesians showed why they are favourites to win gold in Paris with a comfortable 21-15, 21-8 win.
Archery, men’s individual compound ranking round: Rakesh Kumar finishes fifth in the ranking round with a season’s best score of 696. Shyam Sundar Swami finishes in 15th place with a season’s best of 688.
Kumar was in the top three going into the final end but slipped to fifth after shooting two 10s, three nines and an eight in the final end. That allowed Finland’s Jere Forsberg and Canada’s Kyle Tremblay to pip Kumar to third and fourth respectively by a point.
In the mixed team event, Kumar and Sheetal Devi comfortably secure the top seeding with a World Record score of 1399. With 12 teams in the competition, the pair have received a bye straight into the quarter-final.
Archery, women’s individual recurve ranking round: Pooja finishes seventh in the ranking round after shooting out a season best score of 585. Going into the final two ends, Pooja was on course to finishing in the top 6. However, in the ninth end, she shot a four and a three with her final two arrows to drop down to eighth. She managed to recover in the final end and climb to seventh. With 23 archers in the competition, Pooja will receive a bye into the round of 16 by virtue of being in the top nine.
In the mixed team event, Pooja and Harvinder Singh are seeded fifth out of 14 teams.
Para badminton, men's singles SH6: India’s Sivarajan Solaimalai opens his campaign with a loss in the men’s singles SH6 event. Sivarajan lost 15-21, 17-21 to Indonesia’s Subhan in their Group A match.
Para badminton, women's singles SH6: Top seed Nithya Sre Sumathy Sivan gets her campaign off in style! The Indian beats the USA’s 21-7, 21-8 in their group A encounter.
Para badminton, women's singles SU5: Manisha Ramadass battles through to win her first match in group C. With the home crowd against her, Ramadass fought back in the second half of the third game to secure a 8-21, 21-6, 21-9 win over Maud Lefort. She held four match points but Lefort forced her to the bring before Ramadass could clinch the match. A big celebration from the Indian after securing the win.
Para badminton, women's singles SU5: After losing the first game 21-8 to Frenchwoman Maud Lefort, second seed Manisha Ramadass forces the decider by taking the second game 21-6.
Archery, men’s individual recurve ranking round: Tokyo Paralympics bronze medallist Harvinder Singh finishes ninth in the men’s recurve qualification round with a score of 637.
Archery, women’s individual compound ranking round: Sheetal Devi with a stunning show in the qualification round! She shoots 703 from her 72 arrows breaking the previous World and Olympic Records. However, Turkey’s Oznur Cure Girdi tops the ranking round with a World and Olympic record 704! Sarita finished ninth with a score of 682.
Para badminton, men's singles SL3: In an all-Indian clash between Nitesh Kumar and Manoj Sarkar, Kumar defeats Sarkar 21-13, 18-21, 21-18 in a match lasting 53 minutes.
Para badminton, men's singles SL4: Tarun defeats Junior Rogerio Oliveira of Brazil in a straight sets 21-17, 21-19 victory in a match that lasted 36 minutes.
Para cycling, women’s C1-3 3000m Individual Pursuit Qualifying: India’s Jyoti Gaderiya finishes tenth with a timing of 4:53.929.
Para badminton, men’s singles SL4: Suhas Yathiraj defeats Hikmat Ramdani of Indonesia in a straight sets 21-7, 21-5 victory.
Para badminton, men’s singles SL4: Sukant Kadam comes back strongly after conceding the first game to defeat Malaysia’s Mohammed Amin Burhanunddin 17-21, 21-15, 22-20 in a match that lasted 61 minutes.
Para badminton, women's singles SL3: Manasi Joshi suffers a tight defeat to top seed from Indonesia Qonitah Ikhtiar Syakuroh. Joshi had won the first game, but the Indonesian fought back well to clinch the 47-minute match 16-21, 21-13, 21-18.
Para taekwondo, women K44 - 47kg Round of 16: Aruna Tanwar, India’s sole representative in Taekwondo has been defeated by Turkey’s Nurcihan Ekinci by a final score of 19-0.
Para badminton, women's singles SL3: Mandeep Kaur loses her Group B match 21-8, 21-14 to Nigeria's Mariam Eniola Bolaji
Para badminton, mixed doubles SH6: The American team of Miles Krajewski and Jayci Simon has stunned the second seeds from India, as Sivarajan Solaimalai and Nithya Sre Sivan lose 21-23, 11-21.
Para badminton, mixed doubles SH6: Second seeded Indian pair of Sivarajan Solaimalai and Nithya Sre Sivan taken on the American team of Miles Krajewski and Jayci Simon.
Para badminton, mixed doubles SL3-SU5: Nitesh Kumar and Thulasimathi Murugesan get a straight-games 21-14, 21-17 win over compatriots Suhas Yathiraj and Palak Kohli, in a match that lasted 31 minutes.
Para badminton, mixed doubles SL3-SU5: The first Indians in action in Paris are in badminton. And it's an all-Indian affair as Nitesh Kumar and Thulasimathi Murugesan take on the team of Palak Kohli and Suhas Yathiraj.
Hello and welcome to Scroll’s coverage of Day 1 of the 2024 Paris Paralympic Games
The excitement after the 2024 Olympic Games continues as the best para-athletes descend upon Paris for the Paralympic Games.
India has sent a contingent of 84 athletes across 12 sports, and there are strong expectations that the team will return with a bigger medal haul than what was achieved at the last edition in Tokyo.
The country had managed to win 12 Paralympic medals in total before 2020. In Tokyo, the contingent won 19 medals – five gold, eight silver and six bronze.
The likes of Krishna Nagar, one of the gold medallists from Tokyo, will take to the badminton court on Day 1. In archery, the talented and exciting world No 1 Sheetal Devi will undoubtedly be in the limelight as she leads the charge in the compound events.
Additionally, there will also be Indians featuring in cycling and taekwondo.
Stay tuned for all the action from Day 1.
Screenshots in blog courtesy Jio Cinema and 2024 Paris Olympics website.