Nithya, Nitesh win singles gold at Brazil Para-Badminton International

India's Nithya Sre Sumathy Sivan claimed twin gold medals following a stellar run at the Brazil Para-Badminton International here. The 18-year-old Nithya defeated Peru's Giuliana Poveda Flores 22-20 21-11 in the women's singles SH6 category finals to win the gold medal. She also combined with Sivarajan Solaimalai to beat Hong Kong's Chu Man Kai and Choi Wing Kei 21-11 21-17 in the mixed doubles SH6 final.

The participants of SH6 classification comprises 'standing/short stature' players.

Tokyo Paralympic champion Pramod Bhagat and Sukant Kadam also struck gold in the men's doubles after defeating Korean pair of Joo Dongjae and Shin Kyung Hwan 22-20 21-19 in finals of SL3-SL4 class.


The SL3/SL4 class has players who play standing with severe/minor lower limb impairment.

Bhagat also signed off with a singles silver after losing 12-21 13-21 to fellow Indian Kumar Nitesh in SL3 category, while Sukant secured a bronze.

Among others, Tarun claimed a silver after losing 7-21 13-21 to France's Lucas Mazur in the summit clash.

Manasi Joshi too settled for a silver after losing 11-21 21-18 0-21 to Turkey's Halime Tildiz.

Men's pairing of Chirag Baretha and Raj Kumar also bagged a silver after losing 13-21 18-21 to Malaysian Muhammad Fareez Anuar and Cheah Liek Hou in the SU5 summit clash.

Nitesh also combined with Thulasimathi Murugesan but couldn't get across Hikmat Ramdani and Leani Ratri Oktila, losing 18-21 9-21 in the finals.

Thulasimathi Murugesan, however, won the women's singles SU5 finals, beating France's Maud Lefort 21-12 21-18 to win the gold.