India Shine in Para Badminton at Asian Para Games: Naveen and Nitesh Strike Gold

India enjoyed a golden day in para badminton at the Asian Para Games as Naveen Sivakumar and Nitesh Kumar claimed men’s singles titles in the SL3 and SL4 categories respectively on Friday.

Nitesh produced a composed performance to defeat fellow Paralympic champion Pramod Bhagat 21-18, 21-16 in an all-Indian final. Bhagat had won gold in the previous two editions of the Games.

In the women’s events, Thulasimathi Murugesan settled for silver in the SU5 singles after going down 21-18, 21-11 to China’s Yang. She remains in the hunt for more medals, however, as she will partner Nitesh Kumar in the mixed doubles SL3-SU5 final against Indonesia’s Leani Ratri Oktila and Hikmat Ramdani. Later, she teams up with Manasi Girishchandra Joshi in the women’s doubles SL3-SU5 final against China’s Yang Qiuxia and Xiao Zuxian.

Nithya Sre Sumathy Sivan also finished with silver, losing 12-21, 13-21 to China’s Li Fengmei in the women’s singles SH6 final.

For context, SL3 is for players with significant lower-limb impairments who compete on a half-court, while SL4 is for those with milder lower-limb impairments and better balance. SU5 covers upper-limb impairments and SH6 is for athletes of short stature.

India are competing across 11 sports in Aichi-Nagoya and arrived with high expectations after their record-breaking 111-medal haul (29 gold) at Hangzhou 2023, where they finished fifth overall.