Nitesh clinches Paralympic gold in badminton

Paris: Nitesh Kumar won India a second gold medal at the Paris Paralympics, as the shuttler defeated Daniel Bethell of Great Britain in a three-game thriller in men's singles SL3 final. It was the battle of the finest, as the two top seeds clashed for the gold medal; in the end, the highest-seeded Nitesh prevailed, beating Bethell 21-14, 18-21, 23-21 in a clash that lasted an hour and 20 minutes to win his first Paralympic medal.

This is India's third Paralympic medal in badminton; incidentally, all of India's badminton medals at the Paralympics have been gold. In the 2020 Tokyo Games, Pramod Bhagat (SL3) and Krishna Nagar (SH6) clinched top podiums. SL3 is a classification for players who have moderate mobility challenges on one side of their body, both legs, or due to limb absence.