India has already made its debut in Paris Paralympics 2024. The grand opening ceremony of these games was held on the night of 28 August. Indian athletes are in action from 29 August, where India’s campaign started with the para badminton event.
84 athletes from India will participate in 12 sports in Paris Paralympics 2024. This team is India’s largest contingent till date.
Nitesh-Tulsimati pair wins
On the other hand, India’s Nitesh Kumar and Tulsimati Murugesan defeated compatriots Suhas Yathiraj and Palak Kohli in the first match of the group stage of badminton mixed doubles (SL3, SU5) at the Paralympic Games. Nitesh and Tulsimati won this Group A match 21-14, 21-17 in 31 minutes.
The second seeded pair of Shivarajan Solaimalai and Nitya Shri lost in straight games to Miles Krajewski and Jesse Simon of the USA in the SH6 group match in mixed doubles. They were defeated by the American pair 23-21, 21-11 in 35 minutes. 29-year-old Nitesh, a resident of Karnal in Haryana, and Tulsimati of Tamil Nadu won the bronze medal in the mixed team at the Hangzhou Para Asian Games.
SL3 players have a deformity in one part of their body while SU5 players have a deformity in the upper part of their body. SH6 category is for dwarf players.
However, Solaimalai-Sivan lost the first game 23-21 to USA’s Simon-Krajewski in the mixed doubles SH6 Group B. Also, India’s Mandeep Kaur lost 08-21 and the second game 12-17 in the match against Nigeria’s Mariam Bolaji in SL3 Group B.
Mansi Joshi lost, Suhas won
Apart from this, despite winning the first game, Indonesia’s Kontia Ikhitar Syakuroh made a brilliant comeback in the group stage match and defeated India’s Masani Joshi 2-1. While Suhas Yatiraj defeated Indonesia’s Hikmat Ramdani 21-7 in the first game. Suhas defeated Indonesia’s Hikmat Ramdani in straight sets in the men’s singles SL4 Group A match.
