India’s para badminton team has won 21 medals in the Asian Para Games held in Hangzhou, China, out of which 4 gold, 4 silver and 13 medals are included. The special thing is that most of the players have their connection with the City of Nawabs, i.e. Lucknow known for its language and cuisine. The players have honed their skills at the Gaurav Khanna Excellia Badminton Academy located in Excellia School. Before leaving for China, in the ‘Hangzhou ki Udaan’ program organized at Excellia School, Indian para badminton National Coach Mr. Gaurav Khanna had talked about winning 15 medals. Not only did the players accept it, but out of the total 111 medals won by India, 21 medals came from para badminton. Players who have improved their game by staying in Lucknow include Suhas LY,who won men’s singles gold medal in SL-4 category, Pramod Bhagat of SL-3 category, Tarun Bhagat of SL-4 category respectively. All three of them won gold medals in Hangzhou. Suhas and Pramod won the title in men’s singles while Tarun and Nitesh bagged their titles in doubles category.
In the men’s doubles of SU-5 category, the silver medal winning pair was Chirag Baretha and Raj Kumar who have been sharpening their skills in Lucknow for a long time. Krishna Nagar won silver medal in men’s singles in SH-6 category. Apart from this, other players who have registered bronze medals in various categories in their account include Mandeep Kaur (SL-3), Sukant Kadam (SL-4), Nithya Sre (SH-6), Rachna Patel (SH-6), Vaishnavi Puneyani (SL-4). These are the players who had honed their skills to reach to a level they are today. Other players who have marked their presence are the ones who bagged medals in Tokyo Paralympics namely Manoj Sarkar, Laxman Awardee Abu Hubeida, Prem Kumar Ale, Shashank Kumar, Amu Mohan, Palak kohli, Santhiya vishwanathan, Gokul Das and Akash Madhavan.
Lucknow’s Nithya Scored a hat trick of bronze medals
Nithya Sre, student of Grade XII at Excellia School , has won three bronze medals in the Asian Para Games held in Hangzhou , China from 22nd to 28th October respectively. In various parabadminton events, Nithya won a trio of medals in SH-6 category in women’s singles,doubles and mixed doubles. In doubles with Rachna Patel, Nithya reached semi-finals without any pressure, however, after this her hopes could not be fulfilled. Vaishnavi Puneyani, who passed grade XII last year from Excellia School, won the bronze medal in women’s singles of SL-4 category. Vaishnavi’s performance was excellent till she reached semi-finals.
