World Para-Badminton Championships: Pramod Bhagat beats Daniel Bethell to clinch gold medal

BANGKOK: Indian Para-Badminton player Pramod Bhagat on Sunday scripted a fine comeback to claim a gold medal in the World Para-Badminton Championships. Pramod defeated Daniel Bethell of the United Kingdom 14-21, 21-15, 21-14 (2:1) to claim the medal in a marathon match that lasted one hour and 40 minutes in the final of the MS SL3 category.

In the semifinals, the ace shuttler defeated India's Manoj Sarkar in a tight 3-set match. The match lasted 75 minutes with the first set going to the wire and eventually Pramod getting the better of Manoj.

The second set also like the first had nothing to differentiate between the two and was taken by Manoj. The last and final decider went to the wire with nothing to differentiate between the 2 athletes and finally, Pramod managed to pip Manoj and seal his spot in the finals. The final score read. 23-21, 20-22 and 21-18. Earlier in the day, Suhas Yathiraj and Krishna Nagar clinched the gold medals in their respective matches.

Suhas beat Indonesia's Fredy Setiawan in straight games to clinch the gold medal in the Side Lower (SL) 4 final, while Krishna played an edge-of-the-seat thriller against Lin Naili, claiming 22-20, 22-20 victory in the SH6 final against the Chinese player. However, Manisha Ramadass suffered a defeat in the Side Upper (SU) 5 title in the final on Sunday, losing to Yang Qiu Xia of China 16-21, 16-21.