Nagoya, Oct 16: Two-time Paralympics silver-medallist and defending champion Suhas LY started his Asian Para Games badminton campaign with a resounding straight-game win over Bangladesh’s Joytu Dhar in the opening men’s singles SL4 Group E match here on Friday.
Suhas, an IAS officer who won silver medals in Tokyo and Paris Paralympics besides gold in the last Asian Para Games, defeated Dhar 21-8 21-11.
In men’s singles SL4 category, Abhijeet Sakhuja beat Chinese Taipei’s En-chuan Yeh 21-17 21-12.
SL4 is a standing sport class in para badminton for athletes with lower-limb impairments.
Tokyo Olympics gold-medallist and current Asian Para Games silver-medallist Krishna Nagar also made a positive start, defeating Chinese Taipei’s Jia-siang Ling 21-5 21-4 in his opening men’s singles SH6 Group C match.
Another Indian in SH6 category, Sivarajan Solaimalai, also won his first Group D match against Philippines’ John Cyrus Maclang 21-7 21-6.
SH6 is for players with short stature (such as achondroplasia or related genetic conditions).
In a mixed doubles SL3-SU5 Group A match, the Indian pair of Manisha Ramdass and Pramod Bhagat got the better of China’s Lichuan Xiong and Tongtong Li 21-16 19-21 21-16.
Manasi Joshi and Ruthick Raghupati, however, lost 15-21 4-21 to Khalimatus Sadiyah and Fredy Setiawan of Indonesia in their opening group match.
The SL3–SU5 category combines standing lower-limb impairment (SL3) and standing upper-limb impairment (SU5) classes.
In women’s singles SL3 category, former world champion Manasi Joshi lost 15-21 21-14 15-21 to Yuemei Liu of China in her opening Group A match.
Sanjana Kumari also won her opening SL3 group match, beating Hong Kong’s Chai Saeyang 21-4 21-6.
SL3 is a classification for athletes with lower-limb impairments, including amputees, who experience poor walking or running balance. (PTI)
