Paris, Sep 1: India’s top-seeded para-shuttler Nitesh Kumar confirmed the country’s sixth medal in the ongoing Paris Paralympics after advancing to the final of the men’s singles SL3 category following a dominating 21-16, 21-12 win against Japan’s Daisuke Fujihara in the semifinal on Sunday.
The 29-year-old, who won silver in the 2022 Para-Badminton World Championships, got the better of his Japanese opponent in a 48-minute clash.
The SL3 category is for players with movement moderately affected one side of the body, both legs, or the absence of limbs. They play standing on a half-width court and have reduced court movement but a full range of shots.
Nitesh topped the Group A with three successive wins to progress to the semifinal along with Thailand’s Mongkhon Bunsun from the same group.
In the final, Nitesh will take on Great Britain’s Daniel Bethell in the gold medal match on Monday. Bethell Thailand’s Bunsun Mongkhon 21-7, 21-9 in the other semifinal of the day.
Bethel won the silver medal in the Tokyo Paralympics after losing to India’s Pramod Bhagat in the final.
Earlier in the day, India’s Ravi Rongali missed out on a medal after finishing fifth in the men’s shot put F40 final with a personal best effort of 10.63m at Stade de France.
Rongali, who won silver in last year’s Asian Para Games, achieved the best result in his third attempt after starting with 10.44m and 10.49m respectively.
He fouled in the fourth attempt before lowering to 9.83m in the next attempt. The 28-year-old produced a 10m throw in his last attempt of the final to finish in fifth place.
Portugal’s Miguel Montero, who currently holds the world record in the category, bagged the gold with a throw of 11.21m while Mongolia’s Battulga Tsegmid (11.09m) won silver. Defending Asian Para Games champion Garrah Tnaiash of Iraq took the bronze with a throw of 11.03m while Russian Tokyo Paralympics gold medallist and reigning world para athletics champion Denis Gnezdilov, who was competing as Neutral Paralympic Athlete, was fourth with 10.80m.
–IANS
