Defending champion
The victory marks a positive beginning for the Indian star, who arrives at the tournament with a decorated record that includes silver medals from both the Tokyo and Paris Paralympics, as well as a gold medal from the previous edition of the Asian Para Games. His performance set the tone for a successful day for the Indian squad across various para-badminton classifications.
Dominant Displays Across Singles and Doubles Categories
The momentum continued with Tokyo Olympics gold-medallist
In the men's singles SL4 category, Abhijeet Sakhuja added to the tally of wins for India, overcoming Chinese Taipei's En-chuan Yeh in straight games, 21-17, 21-12. The SL4 class, which caters to athletes with lower-limb impairments, saw a strong collective showing from the Indian contingent throughout the day.
The mixed doubles competition provided a tougher test for the Indian representatives. The pair of Manisha Ramdass and Pramod Bhagat navigated a challenging three-game encounter in their SL3-SU5 Group A match, eventually prevailing against China's Lichuan Xiong and Tongtong Li with a 21-16, 19-21, 21-16 victory. However, it was a difficult outing for Manasi Joshi and Ruthick Raghupati, who fell to Indonesia's Khalimatus Sadiyah and Fredy Setiawan 15-21, 4-21.
In the women's singles SL3 category, Sanjana Kumari secured a dominant 21-4, 21-6 win over Hong Kong's Chai Saeyang. Conversely, former world champion Manasi Joshi faced a setback in her opening Group A match, narrowly losing to China's Yuemei Liu in a three-game battle that ended 15-21, 21-14, 15-21.
