Bhubaneswar: Odisha is going to host the 4th National Para-Badminton Championship in Bhubaneswar from 24-26 December 2021, and Bhagat, India’s first-ever badminton gold medalist at the Paralympics will be the star attraction in the event.
Before sweating on the badminton court, the world champion was felicitated by 93.5 Red FM, India’s one of the most leading FM radio networks, on Wednesday.
Pramod Bhagat, a young boy from Odisha, found himself polio-stricken but picking himself up, he turned his misfortune into strengths and trained himself to become one of the finest players the country has ever seen.
Speaking to Pragativadi, leading Odia daily & print partner of RED FM, Bhagat said that each achievement of him is paving new ways for a new journey and this time also he will try to give his best in this tournament.
While speaking about his experience overseas and home ground, Bhagat said, “There is a lot of difference when we play international and intra-national tournaments. While we play against an overseas player, we chalk out our strategy physically and mentally, but when we play national-level tournaments, we make ourselves physically, mentally, and psychologically strong.”
“As we are playing in our home ground and especially for me, National Para-Badminton Championship in Bhubaneswar will be the toughest one. Playing with home support will definitely make me motivated and vice versa. This is the chance to impress my home-ground fans as well as countrymen, for whom I made my way as a world champion,” he said.
“Life always teaches us different lessons and being a part of this earthen life, I always try to transform myself and learn from my mistakes. Especially when it comes to the point of Odisha, I appreciate our Hon’ble CM Naveen Patnaik’s efforts towards sports and I think it will take a short span of time to make our state a stalwart for various sports,” he added.
“Former India Hockey captain Dilip Tirkey is my ideal and I learned from him that winners never quit and quitters never win. With this motto, I will definitely make my country and state proud,” he concluded.
World No 1 para shuttler Pramod Bhagat had proved his position as he clinched the gold medal after defeating Great Britain’s Daniel Bethell by 2-0 in the men’s singles SL3 — final match at the Tokyo Paralympics. He bagged the first gold medal for the country in badminton at the Tokyo Paralympics.
The tournament will also see the participation of Tokyo gold medallist Krishna Nagar from SH 6 category, Tokyo silver medallist Suha Yathiraj, Paralympic bronze winner Manoj Sarkar, Sukant Kadam, Parul Parmar, Manasi Joshi, Palak Kohli, Tarun Dhillon, Prem Kumar Ale, Raj Kumar among others.
About 400 players including Paralympians will be participating in the 4th National Para-Badminton Championship in Bhubaneswar. Bhagat, who won India’s first-ever badminton gold at the Paralympics and was also awarded the Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award, will be the star attraction in the event.
By Abinash Pani, Sub-Editor
