The Indian Paralympic contingent is enjoying a successful outing at the 2024 Paris Paralympics, as the team has won seven medals so far in the Games, including one gold, two silver, and four bronze medals. The team will continue its medal hunt on Monday, September 2, with three assured medals coming from para-badminton, while three other medal matches in para-badminton and three field event matches are set to take place on day 5 of the 2024 Paris Paralympics.
Indian para-athletes who are assured of medal on September 2:
Nitish Kumar
Event: Men’s singles SL3 (Para-badminton)
Medal assured: Silver
In para-badminton gold medal matches, Nitesh Kumar, who defeated Daisuke Fujihara of Japan in the men’s singles SL3 event, will face Daniel Bethell of Great Britain in the gold medal match at 3:30 PM IST. Nitesh, who lost his left foot after falling out of a moving train in 2009, has won four medals in the Asian Para Games and three medals in the World Championships before assuring a Paralympics medal in Paris.
Thulasimathi Murugesan
Event: Women’s singles SU5 (Para-badminton)
Medal assured: Silver
Thulasimathi Murugesan, who defeated Manisha Ramadass in an all-Indian semifinal in the women’s singles SU5 event, will face Qiu Xia Yang of China at 8 PM IST. Top-seeded Thulasimathi defeated her compatriot 23-21, 21-17 in the semifinals to book her place in the gold medal match. Born with a congenital deformity in her left hand, Thulasimathi won three medals in the 2022 Asian Para Games in Hangzhou and is now set to add a Paralympics medal to her list.
Paris Paralympics 2024: India medal tally and full list of medal winners
Suhas Yathiraj
Event: Men’s singles SL4 (Para-badminton)
Medal assured: Silver
Suhas Yathiraj will compete against Lucas Mazur of France in the men’s singles SL4 event at 9:40 PM IST. The 2020 Tokyo Paralympics silver medallist is now assured of at least defending his medal, if not upgrading its colour. The 41-year-old, apart from being a para-athlete, is also an IAS officer of the 2007 batch from the Uttar Pradesh cadre. He has secured gold medals in the Asian Para Games, World Championships, and Asian Championships and is on the brink of adding a Paralympics gold medal to his achievements on Monday.
India’s medal event and hopefuls on September 2
Sumit Antil
Event: Men’s javelin F64
In field events, India’s flag bearer for the 2024 Paris Paralympics and defending gold medallist Sumit Antil, along with Sandip Sargar, will be in action in the men’s javelin F64 final from 10:30 PM IST. Sumit broke the world record at the time to win his maiden Paralympics gold medal in Tokyo. Since then, he broke his own record three times, as the one-time Paralympics and Asian Para Games gold medallist and two-time World Championships gold medallist will be the favourite to win the title gold once again on Monday.
Apart from them, Sukant Kadam, Manisha Ramadass, and the pair of Sivarajan Solaimalai and Nithya Sre Sivan will take the court for the bronze medal matches in men’s singles SL4, women’s singles SU5, and mixed doubles SH6 events, respectively. Yogesh Kathuniya and Kanchan Lakhan will represent India in the men’s discus F56 final and women’s discus throw F53 final from 1:35 PM IST and 10:34 PM IST, respectively.
First Published: Sep 02 2024 | 1:42 PM IS