Tokyo Paralympics: Pramod Bhagat enters badminton final, ensures at least a silver medal for India

With badminton making its debut at the Paralympics this year, Pramod Bhagat thus became the first Indian to qualify for the gold medal clash in the sport.

Reigning world champion Pramod Bhagat on Saturday stormed into the men's singles finals of the badminton event after beating Japan's Daisuke Fujihara in straight games at the Tokyo Paralympics here. The 33-year-old, who is also the world no 1 and current Asian champion, secured a 21-11 21-16 win over Fujihara in men's singles SL3 class semifinals that lasted 36 minutes. With badminton making its debut at the Paralympics this year, Bhagat thus became the first Indian to qualify for the gold medal clash in the sport. With only half of the court being used in this classification, the two players engaged in a lot of long rallies and Bhagat came up on top most of the time.