India’s dream run at the Tokyo Paralympics continues with India taking home 2 more medals. This Paralympics’ campaign is definitely a big boost for the other Indian athletes and is a sign of waking up to a sleeping giant! India in total has now bagged a record 17 medals. At this moment they stand at the 26th position and a few more positive results are yet to come. The latest addition to this is Pramod Bhagat and Manoj Sarkar. A couple of players bagged gold and bronze respectively.
Pramod Bhagat wins Gold: –
In the group stages of the Paralympics, Pramod and Manoj were placed in the same group. They were in Group A along with a Ukrainian athlete. Pramod and Manoj absolutely dominated the group stage. Pramod won 2 out of 2 games with a point difference of +42! Manoj on the other hand lost 1 game against Pramod itself but dominated the Ukrainian. From the 2nd group, Group B The athlete from Great Britain and Japanese Fujihara qualified.
Pramod in the semifinals beats the Japanese athlete in two straight sets. Pramod’s dominance was such that the score read 21-11, 21-16. Manoj on the other hand went up against the Brit. Manoj got defeated in straight sets. The finals were again a cakewalk for Pramod. With the kind of form that Pramod had, the winner was undoubtedly going to be him. He defeated the British athlete D. Bethell in straight sets. The scores of the sets were as follows; 21-14, 21-17.
Pramod Bhagat early life: –
Pramod Bhagat is the current World No. 1 and is also the Asian champion. He was the top-seeded athlete in this SL3 event. It was expected that Pramod will win the event but such absolute dominance was not expected. Pramod hails from Bhubaneshwar, the capital city of Odisha in India. Pramod Bhagat contracted polio when he was 4 years old. The 33-year-old took up the sport when he noticed this sport while his neighbors were having fun while playing it. He has a total of 45 medals at the international level.
Manoj Sarkar early life: –
Manoj has a similar story to Pramod. He contracted polio at the age of 1 which left his right leg impaired. Manoj is a 2018 Arjun Awardee. He suffers from the PPRP lower limb syndrome. Manoj is also a renowned player in this category and has dominated the international circuit since 2013. The 31-year-old hails from Jharkhand.
