PremiumIndian shuttler Krishna Nagar today secured India's second gold medal in badminton at the ongoing Tokyo Paralympics after notching a thrilling three-game win over Hong Kong's Chu Man Kai in the men's singles SH6 class final here.
With Nagar's gold, India's tally reached to record five gold medals in the Paralympics.
The 22-year-old from Jaipur, seeded second, saw off his rival 21-17 16-21 21-17 in 43 minutes in the final to retain his unbeaten run at the Games and join compatriot Pramod Bhagat in the gold medal-winning list.
Bhagat had claimed the first gold in badminton in SL3 class on Saturday. The third set saw the Indian firing on all his cylinders and grabbing the handy 11-7 lead going into the interval. Man Kai showed great fightback after the resumption as he levelled the match against the second seed at 14-14.
As expected, the early exchanges of the match were very close and the shuttle kept changing on the racquet of both players.
The unseeded Man Kai then stepped up his game to gain a one-point lead by 11-10 going into the mid-game interval. Krishna came back strongly after the resumption as he wasted no time whatsoever in gaining the lead back. With his quick feet, the Indian managed to keep the rallies short and then was able to clinch the first set by 21-17 in 14 minutes.
But it was Krishna who held his nerves better as Man Kai's resistance soon perished as Krishna ran off to a 19-16 lead. Krishna won the third game by 21-17 in 15 minutes. The Indian grabbed the gold medal and Chu Man Kai had to settle with silver.
Earlier, Suhas Lalinakere Yathiraj ended his campaign with a historic silver after going down fighting against top seed Lucas Mazur of France in the men's singles SL4 class final.
The 38-year-old Noida district magistrate, who has an impairment in one of his ankles, produced an entertaining performance before narrowly going down 21-15 17-21 15-21 to two-time world champion Mazur in a 62-minute summit clash.
*With inputs from agencies
