Paris Paralympics: Shuttler Nitesh cruises to comfortable win, Manoj suffers setback in men’s singles SL3 Group A

Paris [France], August 30 (ANI): India shuttler Nitesh Kumar cruised to a comfortable win while Manoj Kumar suffered a defeat in the men’s singles SL3 Group A event in the ongoing Paris Paralympics on Friday.

Nitesh enjoyed a comfortable outing against China’s Jianyuan Yang. He established his dominance by racing to a 21-5, 21-11 win. Yang struggled to match Nitsh’s intensity and got completely outplayed.

On the other hand, Manoj suffered a straight-game loss against Thailand’s Mongkhon Bunsun by 19-21, 8-21 in the men’s singles SL3 Group A match.

Manoj showed grit and resilience in the opening set against the Thailand shuttler. The opening set went right down the wire but Bunsun held his composure to go 1-0 up in the game.

In the second set, Bunsun turned out to be a challenge that Manoj failed to overcome. Bunsun took the lead and never looked back after that. Manoj had no answer to the questions that the Thailand shuttler put in front of him and eventually succumbed to defeat.

Earlier on Friday, Manasi Joshi crashed out of the women’s singles SL3 Group A event after Ukraine’s Oksana Kozyna scripted a remarkable comeback at the Porte de La Chapelle Arena.

Manasi began the proceedings on a dominant note, taking control of the opening set by maintaining a healthy gap. Within the blink of an eye, she raced to a 21-10 win in the opening set to go 1-0 up.

In the second set, Oksana responded brilliantly and turned the tide with an impressive overall display. She pushed Manasi on the back foot and restored parity at 1-1 with a 15-21 win.

In the match decider, Manasi settled her nerves and looked well set to walk away with the win. However, Oksana had different plans. She overcame the deficit of three points towards the end and took away the match with a 21-23 win. The defeat ensured Manasi’s exit from the event.

This year, India has sent its largest contingent ever to the Paralympics, comprising 84 athletes across 12 sports, a testament to the country’s expanding para-sports ecosystem.

India’s participation in the Paris 2024 Paralympics marks not only a significant increase in numbers but also in medal hopes, as the nation aims to surpass its previous achievements in Tokyo.

In the Tokyo 2020 Paralympics, the Indian badminton contingent secured a total of four medals, including two gold, a silver and a bronze medal.