Indian shuttlers on September 2 won laurels at the Paris Paralympics. Thulasimathi Murugesan claimed silver after losing her women's singles (SU5) badminton final to China's Qiu Xia Yang at Paris' Porte de La Chapelle Arena, while Manisha Ramadass won bronze in the women's singles SU5 category after beating Cathrine Rosengren of Denmark, reported ANI.
Following their victories, India's medal count at the Paris Paralympics stood at 11, including two gold, four silver and 5 bronze.
PM Narendra Modi congratulated both the players separately. He took to X and congratulated Thulasimathi. PM Modi wrote, “A moment of immense pride as Thulasimathi wins a Silver Medal in the Women's Badminton SU5 event at the #Paralympics2024! Her success will motivate many youngsters. Her dedication to sports is commendable. Congratulations to her.”
While for Manisha Ramadass, PM Modi wrote on X, “An outstanding effort by Manisha Ramadass to win the Bronze Medal in the Women's Badminton SU5 event at the Paralympics! Her dedication and perseverance have led to this incredible achievement. Congrats to her.”
In her gold medal match, 22-year-old Thulasimathi put up a great fight against China's defending champion, Yang Qiuxia, before going down 17-21, 10-21.
While at the adjacent court, Manisha outplayed Denmark's Cathrine Rosengren, seeded third, 21-12, 21-8 to claim the bronze medal.
The SU5 category is for athletes with upper limb impairment, which could be in the playing or non-playing hand.
Earlier in the day, shuttler Nitesh Kumar, in the SL3 category won the gold medal in the Paris Paralympics for India.
Shuttler Nitesh Kumar, after clinching the gold medal in the men's SL3 category earlier in the day, said, as quoted by ANI, “Now I can feel what I have done. When the national anthem was playing and the flag was slowly going up, that moment gave me goosebumps. Now I can say that I have done something huge for my country and I am proud of myself.”
With agency inputs.
