Pramod Bhagat clinches two gold medals to headline India's domination at Para Badminton event in Brazil

What’s the story

World No.1 para badminton player Pramod Bhagat led India's charge at the Para Badminton International Championship held in Brazil as the Indian contingent returned home with 10 medals, including two gold medals that were clinched by the top seed.

In case you didn't know

Para badminton will make its debut at the Olympics this year, and courtesy of his top performances in the event, Pramod qualified for the event after accumulating the required number of ranking points to qualify for the event.

Heart of the matter

Bhagat clinched the gold medals in two categories, namely the men’s singles SL3 and men’s doubles SL3-SL4 alongside Manoj Sarkar. A 22-20, 23-21 win against Sarkar helped Bhagat claim gold in the singles final before the duo outplayed China's Chen Xiaoyu and Gao Yuyang to claim the top honours in the doubles category.

Post his win, Bhagat reflected on the important victory and said-

“It’s great to start off the year on a strong note. Winning the golds here gave me a lot of confidence and I feel good now looking ahead in the Road to Tokyo 2020 Paralympic games. Last year, I had to settle for the silver in the Tokyo 2020 test event in Japan. It was disappointing," he was quoted saying to the Paralympic Committee of India.

What’s next?

With the Tokyo Olympics 2020 coming up in July later this year, hopes will rest on Pramod Bhagat to bring back a gold medal for the country.