Paris Paralympics: Suhas Yathiraj again settles for silver after falling short against Lucas Mazur

PARIS: India para-shuttler Suhas Yathiraj once again settled for a silver at the Paris Paralympics, just like in Tokyo three years ago.

In the men’s singles SL4 category, France’s Lucas Mazur completely ousted the Indian Suhas with a straight-set win. Suahs went down against the French shuttler after enduring a 9-21, 13-21 defeat.

In the opening set, Suhas failed to match Mazur’s intensity and fell well short in the end. In the second set, he tried to initiate a comeback but failed to deliver it and settled for a silver medal.

While his compatriot Sukant Kadam, in the same event, failed to take away the bronze medal. He found himself trailing after the first set while facing Indonesia’s Fredy Setiawan.

In the first set, Sukant showed grit, but it wasn’t enough to get the better of Fredy. He lost the opening set by 17-21.

A spectacular accomplishment as Suhas Yathiraj wins the prestigious Silver medal in the Men’s Singles SL4 Badminton event at the #Paralympics2024! India rejoices at his success. We are proud of his tenacity and commitment to sports. @suhas_ly#Cheer4Bharat pic.twitter.com/iiSOGqBAhg

— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) September 2, 2024

In the second set, he once again displayed vigour, but it wasn’t enough to get past Fredy. He succumbed to an 18-21 defeat and missed out on the bronze with a defeat in straight sets.

Meanwhile, para-shuttlers Thulasimathi Murugesan and Manisha Ramadass won silver and bronze medals respectively, in the women’s singles SU5 category.

Murugesan lost the first set to China’s Yang Qiu Xia 21-17. In the second set, the Indian player struggled and lost the match with a scoreline of 21-10, securing a silver medal.

In the bronze medal match of the same category, Manisha outclassed Denmark’s Cathrine Rosengren 21-12, 21-8. The Indian player dominated throughout the match, securing another medal for the nation.

India also tasted gold medal success in para-badminton after shuttler Nitesh Kumar outplayed Great Britain’s second-seeded Daniel Bethell to clinch a gold medal in the men’s singles SL3 category at the ongoing Paralympics.

Nitesh, who discovered his passion for badminton at IIT-Mandi, added a second gold to India’s medal tally after shooter Avani Lekhra won the nation’s first gold at the Paris Paralympics with a sensational display in the women’s 10m air rifle final.

In a game that went right down to the wire, Nitesh ousted Daniel with a 21-14, 18-21, 23-21 win to claim his place at the top of the podium. (ANI)