World No 1 Pramod Bhagat bagged double gold medal in BWF Para Badminton World Championships 2019. India clinched 3 gold, 4 silver and 5 bronze in this year’s edition that was held simultaneously with the regular event at Basel in Switzerland.
Pramod Bhagat won gold in MS SL3 category by beating second seed Daniel Bethell of England 6-21, 21-14, 21-5. After a disappointing start in the opening game, Pramod came back strongly in the second and third game to win the title in 51 minutes. Earlier, he defeated compatriot Manoj Sarkar in the semifinal. Manoj eventually settled for bronze in MS SL 3. But they together won the MD SL 3-4 category gold in an all-India final. Pramod and Manoj defeated the pair of Nitesh Kumar and Tarun Dhillon by 14-21, 21-15, 21-16.
Another gold medal came through the hands of Manasi Joshi who defeated World No 1 Parul Parmar. The 46-year veteran of many wins could not match the brilliance of Joshi in this match and succumbed in just 20 minutes. In the opening game, Joshi trailed by 2-4 but after that raced ahead by winning nine of the next 11 points. In the second game Joshi won 9 straight points to win the match.
Tarun Dhillon settled for silver in MS SL 4 while Sulant Kadam won the bronze in the same category. Both the Indians fell in the hands of top seeded Lucas Mazur of France; Tarun in the final while Sukant in the semifinal.
The Indian pair of Krishna Nagar and Raja Magotra went down 21-15, 17-21, 21-18 in a 55-minute clash against top seeds Man Kai Chu and Chun Yim Wong of Chinese Taipei in the MD SS 6 category. Krishna Nagar bagged bronze in MS SS6 category. In MD SU 5 category, India’s Raj Kumar and Rakesh Pandey won bronze while in MD SL 3-4, Umesh Kumar won bronze pairing with Chawarat Kitichokwattana of Thailand.
