Paris 2024 Paralympics Badminton: Sukant, Tarun, Suhas, and Nitesh start men's singles campaign with wins; Sivarajan and Manoj face defeats
The Indian men's badminton contingent had a good outing on the opening day of the Paris 2024 Paralympics. A total of four Indian players came out victorious In their respective men's singles group-stage matches. The country is expected to do well in badminton and would now be more hopeful after a solid day's play.
Sukant Kadam, the first to compete, went up against Malaysia's Mohd Amin Burhanuddin in the men's singles SL4 category, group B. Sukant did not have the best of starts to the match, after going down in the first set. However, Kadam, made a roaring comeback, winning the next two sets. He clinched the match 2-1.
Up next was Tarun Dhillon, who competed against Rogerio Junior Xavier De Oliveira of Brazil, in group D of the same category as Sukant at the Paris 2024 Paralympics. Tarun excelled in the match, defeating his opponent 2-0 in two straight sets (21-17, 21-19). Suhas Yathiraj followed up with another brilliant show in the men's singles SL4 category.
Suhas obliterated Indonesia's Hikmat Ramdani in group A, taking just 22 minutes, to defeat his opponent 2-0. The scoreline of this match is indicative of how dominating Yathiraj was. The Indian won the match 21-7, 21-5 and gave nothing away to Ramdani.
Nitesh Kumar impresses but Sivarajan Solaimalai and Manoj Sarkar suffer defeats in the Paris 2024 Paralympics
Nitesh Kumar ensured India could continue having a good day in men's badminton singles at the Paris 2024 Paralympics. However, Nitesh's victory came in a bittersweet moment. Kumar defeated his fellow Indian compatriot, Manoj Sarkar, in the men's singles SL3 category, group A.
Nitesh won the match 2-1 against Sarkar. The day ended on a bit of a somber note with Sivarajan Solaimalai losing his group A match in the men's singles SH6 category. Sivarajan lost to Subhan of Malaysia, 15-21 and 17-21, in two straight sets. Once completed, the group play stages will be followed by the semifinals.