India's Nitesh Kumar clinched his maiden gold medal in the ongoing Paris Paralympics 2024 beating Daniel Bethell from Great Britain in the men's singles SL3 badminton final. The 29-year-old from Haryana was rock solid in his defence and spot on with his shot selections as he beat Tokyo silver medallist Bethell 21-14 18-21 23-21 in an absorbing contest that lasted an hour and 20 minutes.
SL3 class players, like Nitesh, compete with more severe lower limb disabilities, requiring them to play on a half-width court. Nitish lost his left leg in a train accident in Visakhapatnam in 2009 when he was just 15 but he recovered from the trauma and found his calling in para badminton.
Nitesh's victory on Monday ensured that India retained the SL3 gold after Pramod Bhagat clinched the title three years ago when para-badminton made its debut in Tokyo. India have clinched nine medals so far in the marquee event happening in Paris including two gold, three siver and four bronze. Where star shooter Avani Lekhara was the first athlete who clinched gold medal for India in 10metre air rifle shooting standing SH1 title. She won the gold medal ahead of Republic of Korea’s Lee Yunri, who shot 246.8 to win silver and compatriot Mona Agarwal, who missed the gold medal round and settled for bronze with a final score of 228.7.
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Earlier, Yogesh Kathuniya bagged his second consecutive Paralympic silver medal in the men's discus throw F-56 event with a season's best performance. The F-56 is a seating field event class for differently-abled athletes. People with amputations and spinal cord injuries take part in this classification.
He hurled the discus to 42.22m in his very first attempt to add to the silver he won in the Tokyo Paralympics three years ago. Brazil's Claudiney Batista dos Santos registered a hat-trick of Paralympic gold medals, creating a new Games record with an effort of 46.86m in his fifth attempt.
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