The Indian para-badminton campaign got off to a disappointing start at the Paralympics here on Thursday. Shuttlers Manasi Joshi and Mandeep Kaur suffered defeats in their respective women’s singles SL3 group stage matches.
Group A: Manasi Joshi was pitted against Indonesia’s Qontiah Ikhitar Syakuroh. Against the Indonesian opponent, the World Championships 2019 gold did not have a pretty match on the court. She won the first set with a score of 21-16 but lost the next two sets as Syakuroh came back strong at 13-21 and 18-21, hence jeopardizing Manasi’s chances of staying in the competition.
The other lot, Mandeep Kaur, featured in Group B, pitted against Nigeria’s Mariam Eniola Bolaji. Mandeep could not challenge Bolaji, losing in straight games 8-21, 14-21. It simply means Mandeep now needs nothing but victories in the remaining group matches to keep her hopes alive for the knockout stages.
Both the Indian shutters have two more matches left in their group. The writing is clear: they must win the coming ones to keep their hopes alive for advancing into the knockout stages.
Besides Manasi and Mandeep, Palak Kohli, Thulasimathi Murugesan, Manisha Ramdass, and Nithya Sre were other women’s para shutters from India.
This time, India is sending its biggest contingent ever in the Paralympics. As a total of 84 athletes will represent the country in 12 sports. This is no less than a reflection of the growing emphasis the country is trying to pay towards para-sports. The Paris 2024 Paralympic Games promise to be a great leap forward for India, which dreams of outperforming its previous records.
Its best performance at the Paralympics so far has been in Tokyo 2020. There India managed to bring home a total of 19 medals. It comprised five gold medals, eight silver, and six bronze medals. One badminton team alone gathered four medals: two golds, one silver, and one bronze. That many achievements raised a lot of expectations concerning the current Paralympic Games.
To put it simply, the performance of India in the Paralympics at Paris will be watched with much interest since the country hopes to build on the success that came its way in Tokyo. Bettering the medal tally from previous games has been the aim.
While the competition goes on, the Indian team has all the determination to mark their stances. And also bring more prestigious laurels to the country. Now, attention shall be on the upcoming matches and events. There every athlete faces his or her respective challenges and channels out the best possible performance.
ANI
