At the Paris Paralympics on Monday, Nitesh Kumar took home the gold medal after defeating Daniel Bethell of Great Britain in a thrilling three-game match. The Indian prevailed 21-14, 18-21, 23-21 in the men’s singles SL3 division final. Nitesh got his first gold medal at the Paralympics; India has won two gold medals at the current Paris edition.
The match began with a neck-and-neck struggle between the two shuttlers. But during the mid-game break in the first game, Nitesh totally turned the tide of the match in his opponent’s favor. Nitesh put up another impressive display in the second game, but Bethell’s late surge gave the British team a chance to win.
In the third and final game, Nitesh controlled the action once more until a late comeback by Bethell took the game beyond the required 21 points. But Nitesh was able to win the gold thanks to a string of mistakes, in this case sending the shuttle outside of the playing field..
Players in the SL3 class, like Nitesh, compete on a half-width court due to more severe lower limb limitations. After losing his left leg in a rail accident in Visakhapatnam in 2009, Nitesh discovered para badminton to be his calling.
Nitesh’s victory, meanwhile, guaranteed India would keep the SL3 gold. When para badminton first appeared in Tokyo three years ago, Pramod Bhagat—who is currently serving an 18-month suspension—won the gold.
“I’ve been inspired by Pramod bhaiyya, also known as Pramod Bhagat. Before the final, PTI cited him as stating, “Not just because of how skilled and experienced he is, but also because of how humble he is as a human being.”
Nitesh made his debut in the 2016 Nationals in Faridabad, where he competed for Haryana and took home a medal. He made his mark in para-badminton the next year when he won bronze in doubles and silver in singles in Bengaluru. At the 2020 Nationals, he defeated Paralympic medalists Bhagat and Manoj Sarkar to win gold, marking the pinnacle of his domestic achievement.
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