Paris: Tokyo 2020 silver medallist Suhas Lalinakere Yathiraj had a mixed day while Sukant Kadam won his opening match in the group stage on the opening day of badminton competitions in the Paralympic Games here on Thursday.
Yathiraj, who is an IAS officer of the 2007 batch of Uttar Pradesh cadre and has served as District Magistrate of Gautam Buddha Nagar & Prayagraj, started the day with a defeat in the Mixed Doubles SL3-SU 5 partnering Palak Kohli. They lost to compatriots Nitesh Kumar and Thulasimathi Murugesan 0-2 (14-21, 17-21) at Court 4 of the La Chapelle Arena in the French Capital.
The 41-year-old shuttler then came back a couple of hours later to start his campaign in the men’s singles SL4 on a rousing note, defeating Indonesia’s Hikmat Ramdani 21-7, 21-5 in just 22 minutes in his first match in Group A.
Kyung Hwan Shin of South Korea is the third player in the preliminary Group A. Yathiraj will have to next beat the Korean to advance as only the group winners make it to the semifinals.
In the same SL4 category, India’s Sukant Kadam and Tarun Dhillon also won their first match in their respective groups. Yathiraj is the top seed in his category.
In Group B, Kadam started his campaign with a hard-fought three-game win over fourth seed Mohd Amin Burhanuddin of Malaysia. Kadam defeated the Malaysian 2-1 (17-21, 21-15, 22-20) in a 61-minute encounter. Thailand’s Siripong Teamarrom is the third player in the group.
In Group D, India’s 30-year-old Tarun Dhillon got the better of Brazil’s Rogerio Junior Xavier de Oliveira 2-0 (21-17, 21-19). Tarun had represented the country in the Tokyo Paralympics but had failed to win any medals.
India suffered a setback in the Women’s Singles SL3 category as both Manasi Joshi and Mandeep Kaur lost their opening matches. The 35-year-old Manasi, who is making her Paralympic Games debut in Paris, ran into top seed Qonitah Ikhtiar Syakuroh of Indonesia in her first match in Group A and put up a superb fight before going down 1-2.
Manasi won the first game but lost the next two to lose the match 21-16, 13-21, 18-21. She put up a strong fight in the third game but could not go all the way. Ukraine’s Oksana Kozyna is the third player in the group.
In the Mixed Doubles SH6 section, India’s Sivarajan Solaimalai and Nithya Sre Sumathy Sivan lost their opening match to the American combine of Miles Krajewski and Simon Jayci 0-2 (21-23, 11-21. All is not lost for the Indian pair as they need to beat the third pair in the group, Natthapong Meechai to keep their hopes alive to advance to the next stage as two pairs from the group will qualify for the semifinals.
