World No.1 Pramod Bhagat made an impressive start to his campaign in the men’s singles badminton competition but young Palak Kohli endured a tough day at the Tokyo Paralympics, here on Wednesday.
Pramod, the reigning World champion, outwitted fellow Indian Manoj Sarkar 21-10, 21-23, 21-9 in his men’s singles group A class SL3 opener that lasted 56 minutes.
The 33-year-old, who had contracted polio during his childhood, will face Ukraine’s Oleksandr Chyrkov on Thursday. Manoj too will clash with Chyrkov on Friday.
Up against Japan’s Ayako Suzuki, a gold medallist at the 2009 World Championships, the 19-year-old Palak lost 4-21, 7-21 in just 19 minutes in a Group A women singles class SU5 match.
Palak and Pramod had earlier gone down fighting against second seeds Lucas Mazur and Faustine Noel in the mixed doubles group B opener here. The Indians, competing in SL3-SU5 class, lost 9-21 21-15 19-21 against the French team in 43 minutes.
Not good enough
In athletics, Amit Kumar and Dharambir ended fifth and eighth respectively in the F51 men’s club throw competition. Amit’s best effort was 27.77m, his season’s best performance, while Dharambir, produced an effort of 25.59m which was also a seasonal best for him.
F51 classification is for athletes with impaired muscle power, restricted range of movement, limb deficiency or leg length difference due to cervical cord injuries, spinal cord injuries, amputations, or functional disorders. Athletes compete in seated position.
Suyash disqualified
Swimmer Suyash Jadhav, who won gold at the 2018 Asian Para Games, endured a disappointing outing in the men’s 100m breaststroke SB7 final as he was disqualified for a rule violation by ‘performing more than one fly kick after the turn’.
Avani disappoints
Shooter Avani Lekhara, who became India’s first female gold medallist two days ago, crashed out in the qualification round of the mixed 10m Air Rifle Prone SH1 event on Wednesday. She Avani finished a disappointing 27th with a score of 629.7, crashing out in the third round.
Other Indian para shooters in the men’s event, Sidhartha Babu and Deepak Kumar witnessed a horrible outing, finishing 40th and 43rd respectively with scores of 625.5 and 624.9.
