September 3, 2024: India’s Kumar Nitesh won his first gold medal at the Paralympics today by defeating Great Britain’s Daniel Bethell in a tough match in the men’s singles SL3 badminton final. During the event, Tulsimati and Manisha Ramdass claimed the silver and bronze medals in the women’s singles MU5 category, respectively. The 29-year-old Nitesh from Haryana defeated Bethell, the silver medalist from the Tokyo Paralympics, 21-14, 18-21, 23-21, in a match that lasted for one hour and 20 minutes. In 2009, at the age of 15, Nitesh lost his left leg in a train accident in Visakhapatnam but took up para-badminton as he overcame the trauma. With Nitesh’s victory, India retained the gold medal in the SL3 category; three years ago, Pramod Bhagat had won gold in this event in Tokyo. It is noteworthy that late last night, Indian para-athlete Preeti Pal won the bronze medal in the women’s 200-meter T35 category with a personal best time of 30.01 seconds, making it India’s second para-athletics medal. Similarly, Nishad Kumar won the silver medal in the men’s high jump T74 category.
