India shine with 21 medalsin Dubai Para Badminton

Fazal Khan | TNN

Lucknow: Indian players made the most of the final day of the 3rd Fazza-Dubai Para Badminton International in Dubai on Sunday to top the tally with 21 medals, including 5 gold, 6 silver and 10 bronze.

Lucknow’s Abu Hubaida also made the city proud by bagging a silver in men’s doubles event in partnership with Premkumar Ale of Pune.

Dronacharya awardee Gaurav Khanna, a 45-year-old Railway Protection Force (RPF) cop at Lucknow division of Northern Railway, who trained the players in Lucknow, told TOI: “The results have come as a great morale-booster for us. Despite hurdles due to coronavirus pandemic, our players continued their training at BBD and Gaurav Khanna Excellia Badminton Academy with full dedication. Finally, we proved our mettle with highest number of medals in the event.”

He said the event would help players emerge stronger in the next event in Spain which would be followed by Tokyo Paralympics.

Winners: Gold: Pramod Bhagat (men’s singles SL3), Krishna Nagar (men’s singles SH6), Prem Kumar Ale (mixed doubles WH1- WH2), Krishna Nagar & Raja Magotra (men’s doubles SH6), Pramod Bhagat & Manoj Sarkar (men’s doubles SL3-SL4)

Silver: Palak Kohli (women’s singles SU5), Manasi Joshi (women’s singles SL3), Nitesh Kumar (men’s singles SL3), Sukant Kadam (men’s singles SL4), Nitesh Kumar & Sukant Kadam (men’s doubles SL3-SL4), Premkumar Ale & Abu Hubaida (men’s doubles WH1-WH2)

Bronze: Palak Kohli & Parul Parmar (women’s doubles SL3-SU5), Arati Patil & Manasi Joshi (women’s doubles SL3-SU5), Palak Kohli & Pramod Bhagat (Mixed Doubles SL3-SU5), Prem Ale (men’s singles WH1), Chirag Baretha & Rahul Verma (men’s doubles SU5), Manoj Sarkar (men’s singles SL3), Parul Parmar (women’s singles SL3), Arwaz Ansari & Deep Ranjan (men’s doubles SL3+SL4), Charanjeet Kaur (women’s singles SL3), Girish Sharma (mixed doubles WH1-WH2).