Bhubaneswar: Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik today congratulated ace para shuttler Pramod Bhagat for a record-breaking feat at the BWF Para Badminton World Championships 2024 in Thailand.
India’s Suhas Yathiraj, Pramod Bhagat and Krishna Nagar capped their impressive run by securing gold medals in men’s singles SL4, SL3 and SH6 classes respectively at the Para Badminton World Championship here on Sunday.
The Odisha CM wrote in an ‘X’ post:
Congratulate @PramodBhagat83, @suhas_ly and @Krishnanagar99 on winning gold at Para Badminton World Championship in #Thailand. May they continue the winning streak and bring laurels for the country. Best wishes for future endeavours. #OdishaForSports
— Naveen Patnaik (@Naveen_Odisha) February 25, 2024
In what could be the longest finals in Para Badminton, Padma Shri Pramod Bhagat defeated England’s Daniel Bethell in the SL3 category to retain his gold in the men’s single. This win breaks a lot of records for Pramod, not only making him the first para-athlete to win 3 consecutive gold at the BWF Para Badminton World Championships but also equaling the record of Lin Dan’s 5 World Championships. He has won gold in 2009, 2015, 2019, 2022 and 2024.
Pramod and Daniel Bethell’s rivalry is well known, and this match proved to be exactly that. The 1-hour 40-minute-long match was exhaustive, tight and could have gone either side. Pramod Bhagat started the game really with 5 consecutive points and had a good lead, but Bethell came back strongly to win the first set 21-14. The second set started off in the same fashion aggressively, but as the match progressed there were long rallies and both players couldn’t find an opening, and their defense was spectacular. Somehow Pramod forced errors from Bethell’s side to win the second set 21 -15.
With the match poised evenly, the deciding set was going to be crucial, and Pramod once again changed his tactics to confuse Bethell which gave him the edge and secured the 21-14 winning his 3rd world championships in a row. Apart from the gold, Pramod also won Bronze in Men’s Doubles with Sukant Kadam and another Bronze in Mixed Doubles with Manish Ramdass.
Commenting on the same, Pramod Bhagat says, this win holds a very special place in my heart for various reasons. First being that I have managed to equal my idol Lin Dan’s record of 5 world championships and second being having been able to retain 3 consecutive world championships.”
He further added, “This match with Bethell would be my toughest both mentally and physically. I have not been playing well against Bethell the past few months and this was my time to prove doubters wrong. The match was exhaustive and Bethell played brilliantly but somehow I managed to pull out a win.”
Also Read: BWF Para Badminton World Championships: Pramod Bhagat Clinches Men’s Singles Title
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