Sukant, Suhas & Tarun make winning start; Manasi, Mandeep lose in Paralympics

PARIS: India's Sukant Kadam, Suhas Yathiraj and Tarun notched up contrasting wins in their respective opening men’s singles SL4 group matches to make a resounding start to their campaign in para badminton competition at the Paralympics here on Thursday.

Sukant, 31, who had suffered a knee injury after a bad fall in a cricket field when he was just 10, recovered from an opening game reversal to emerge 17-21 21-15 22-20 winner over Malaysia’s Mohammed Amin Burhanuddin in his opening Group B match. He fought back from 16-20 down in the decider by reeling off six points on the trot.

Tokyo Paralympics silver medallist Suhas, on the other hand, hardly broke any sweat as he zoomed past Indonesia's Hikmat Ramdani 21-7 21-5 in his group A match which lasted just 22 minutes.

Playing in his second Olympics, Tarun, who had badly injured his knee after an accident while playing football, defeated Brazil's Oliveira Rogerio Junior Xavier 21-17 21-19 in men's singles SL4 group D match.

In SL4, athletes who demonstrate lower limb impairment and minor balance problems in walking or running compete.

Nitesh Kumar and Thulasimathi Murugesan also had a winning start as they had little difficulty overcoming compatriots Suhas Yathiraj and Palak Kohli in the opening mixed doubles group stage (SL3-SU5).

Nitesh and Thulasimathi won the Group A contest 21-14, 21-17 in 31 minutes.

However, Mandeep Kaur and Manasi Joshi lost their respective women's singles (SL3) group stage matches.

The mixed doubles duo of Sivarajan Solaimalai and Nithya Sre, seeded second, also lost their SH6 group stage match in straight games to the American pair of Miles Krajewski and Jayci Simon.

Manasi, a 2019 world champion, whose leg was amputated after suffering a road accident in 2011, did well to pocket the opening game but couldn't sustain the pressure on her rival to go down 21-16 13-21 18-21 to Indonesia's Qonitah Ikhtiar Syakuroh in group A.

Mandeep, who switched to badminton from arm wrestling after undergoing a surgery which helped her to walk straight in 2018, lost 8-21 14-21 against Nigeria's Mariam Eniola Bolaji in a group B match.

SL3 is for athletes with severe levels of lower limb disability, which requires them to play on a half-width court.

In Group B, Sivarajan and Nithya gave a tough challenge to the American pair before going down 21-23, 11-21 in 35 minutes in SH6 category.

SH6 is for players of short stature.

Nitesh, 29, who hails from Karnal district in Haryana, and young Thulasimathi, a veterinary science student from Tamil Nadu who had won the mixed doubles bronze at the Asian Para Games in Hangzhou last year, encountered little challenge in the first game and at one stage they were leading by seven points.

Unable to counter the pair's net play and deep tosses, Suhas and Palak quickly found themselves trailing, losing the game in just 14 minutes.

The second game too went on similar lines with Palak clearly not able to match the prowess of her senior partner on the court and giving away points.

SU5 players have significant impairments in their upper limbs.