Nagoya, Oct 21 India’s Krishna Nagar and Sivarajan Solaimalai clinched the silver medal in the Men’s Doubles SH6 badminton event at the Asian Para Games after three medals were assured in the SL4 category.
Krishna and Sivarajan finished second in their group with a win and a couple of losses from three matches. As there were only four teams in the group stage, the medal winners were decided based on the group standings.
China’s Lin Naili and Qingtao Zeng won the gold with three wins in as many matches, while Indonesia’s Aji Dimas Tri and Subhantook bronze after losing two matches, including their encounter against India.
“I am happy that we have won a silver medal for the country, but there is also a little disappointment because, as athletes, we always want to win gold. It was a closely contested match, and we gave our best on court,” said Krishna.
Despite the mixed emotions, Krishna remains focused on his next event, the mixed doubles.
“The competition is not over for me yet. I have another opportunity with Nithya in the mixed doubles event, and we will go into the match with a positive mindset. Indonesia will be a tough opponent, but we will prepare well, give our best on court and fight for another medal for India,” said Krishna.
The SH6 class in para badminton is meant for athletes who have a short stature caused by a genetic disorder.
Earlier, India were assured of three medals in the men’s singles SL4 badminton competition at the Asian Para Games after defending champion Suhas LY and two others advanced to the semifinals here on Wednesday.
Suhas, the current world number one who is also an IAS officer, defeated Korea’s Cho Nadan 21-12 21-16 to set up a last four clash with Indonesia’s Fredy Setiawan.
Setiawan got the better of India’s Sukant Kadam 21-17 18-21 21-15 in his quarterfinal match.
The other semifinal will be an all-Indian affair with Naveen Sivakumar taking on Abhijeet Sakhuja.
This was after Naveen sailed past Korea’s Shin Kyung Hwan 21-14 21-4, and Abhijeet defeated fellow Indian Surya Kant Yadav 21-16 21-12.
The SL4 classification covers athletes with lower-limb impairments who have better walking and running balance than the more severely affected SL3 class.
(PTI News)
