Tokyo, Sep 2 (FN Agency) Indian para badminton player Pramod Bhagat progressed to the men’s singles semi-finals after beating Ukraine’s Oleksandr Chyrkov in his second group A match in SL3 category at the Tokyo Paralympics, here on Thursday. The three-time world champion Pramod beat Chyrkov 21-12, 21-9 in 26 minutes at the Yoyogi National Stadium. Bhagat, the top seed at Tokyo 2020, had won his first group stage tie against compatriot Manoj Sarkar on Wednesday. Sarkar will face Chyrkov on Friday to decide the other semis entrant from the group. The top two players from each group progress to the semis.
In the men’s singles SL4 class, Indian shuttlers Suhas Yathiraj and Tarun Dhillon registered dominating wins in their respective group stage matches. In Group A, Suhas Yathiraj beat Jan-Niklas Pott of Germany 21-9, 21-3 while Tarun Dhillon got the better of Thailand’s Siripong Teamarrom 21-7, 21-13 in Group B. Another Indian in the competition – Krishna Nagar beat Didin Taresoh of Malaysia 22-20, 21-10 in the men’s singles match in SH6 category of Group B . Among women, the 19-year-old Palak Kohli bounced back from Wednesday’s loss to register her first win at Tokyo 2020. In the women’s SU5 division, Kohli beat Zehra Baglar of Turkey 21-12, 21-18 to keep her hopes of a place in the knock-out stages alive. Meanwhile, in women’s doubles SL3-SU5, the Indian pair of Palak Kohli and Parul Parmar lost to the second seeds Cheng Hefang and Ma Huihui of China. The Chinese team won their opening Group B match 21-7, 21-5.
Later, Parul Parmar’s stay at Tokyo 2020 was cut short following two losses in the group stage of the women’s singles SL4 category. In her first match, she lost to Cheng Hefang 8-21, 2-21 and later bowed out to Germany’s Katrin Seibert 21-23, 21-19, 15-21. Earlier in the day, India’s pistol shooter Rahul Jakhar narrowly missed a medal in the mixed 25m pistol SH1 event after finishing fifth at the Asaka shooting range in Tokyo. Meanwhile, India’s representative in taekwondo, Aruna Tanwar, pulled out of the Tokyo Paralympics following an injury. Competing in the women’s K44-49kg class, the Indian athlete began well with a 15-2 win over Serbia’s Danijela Jovanovic. However, she suffered a ‘possible’ fracture of her left forearm and right foot during the bout. Aruna Tanwar lost the following bout to Peruvian athlete Leonor Espinoza Carranza 28-9 and pulled out of the repechage round.