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While Kadam overcame an early setback, Yathiraj breezed through his match, and Tarun clinched a hard-fought win, showing remarkable resilience and skill.
Sukant, 31, who had sustained a severe knee injury from a fall in a cricket field at the age of 10, battled from a first-game loss to defeat Malaysia’s Mohammed Amin Burhanuddin.
Sukant’s match in Group B concluded with scores of 17-21, 21-15, 22-20. Highlighting his remarkable comeback, Kadam clawed back from 16-20 down in the decider by stringing together six consecutive points.
Suhas Yathiraj, a silver medallist from the Tokyo Paralympics, demonstrated his class by swiftly defeating Indonesia’s Hikmat Ramdani in Group A. His match concluded in just 22 minutes with a dominant 21-7, 21-5 scoreline.
In his second Paralympics appearance, Tarun, who had a severe knee injury from a football accident, emerged victorious against Brazil’s Oliveira Rogerio Junior Xavier in Group D. Tarun secured victory with scores of 21-17, 21-19 in the men’s singles SL4 category.
In the SL4 classification, athletes with lower limb impairments and minor balance issues in walking or running compete.
In another match, the duo of Nitesh Kumar and Thulasimathi Murugesan recorded a win in the opening mixed doubles group stage (SL3-SU5), overcoming compatriots Suhas Yathiraj and Palak Kohli. The Group A contest ended in a 21-14, 21-17 victory for Nitesh and Thulasimathi in 31 minutes.
However, Mandeep Kaur and Manasi Joshi faced defeats in their respective women’s singles (SL3) group stage matches. The mixed doubles pair of Sivarajan Solaimalai and Nithya Sre, seeded second, also lost their SH6 group stage match in straight games to the American duo of Miles Krajewski and Jayci Simon.
Manasi Joshi, a 2019 world champion whose leg was amputated following a road accident in 2011, took the first game but ultimately succumbed to Indonesia’s Qonitah Ikhtiar Syakuroh in Group A. The match ended with scores of 21-16, 13-21, 18-21.
Mandeep Kaur, who transitioned from arm wrestling to badminton after a corrective surgery in 2018, lost to Nigeria’s Mariam Eniola Bolaji in her Group B match with scores of 8-21, 14-21.
In the SL3 category, players with severe lower limb disabilities compete on a half-width court.
Sivarajan and Nithya fought hard in their SH6 group match but were ultimately defeated by the American pair with scores of 21-23, 11-21 in 35 minutes. Players in the SH6 category are of short stature.
Nitesh Kumar, hailing from Karnal district in Haryana, and young Thulasimathi Murugesan, a veterinary science student from Tamil Nadu who won bronze in mixed doubles at the Asian Para Games last year, faced minimal challenges in their first game. At one point, they held a seven-point lead.
Suhas and Palak struggled against the net play and deep tosses from their opponents, losing the first game in just 14 minutes. The second game followed a similar pattern with Palak unable to keep up with her senior partner, resulting in a loss.
SU5 players have significant impairments in their upper limbs.
