The Chhattisgarh

Tag: Badminton

  • India’s Nitesh Kumar Wins Gold Medal In SL3 Badminton After Epic Battle At Paris Paralympics 2024 | Other

    Paralympics 2024: India shuttler Nitesh Kumar outplayed Great Britain’s second-seeded Daniel Bethell to clinch a gold medal in the men’s singles SL3 category in the ongoing Paralympics on Monday. Nitesh who discovered his passion in badminton at IIT-Mandi, added a second gold to India’s medal tally after shooter Avani Lekhra got his hands on the nation’s first gold at the Paris

    Paralympics with a sensational display in the women’s 10m air rifle final. In a game that went right down the wire, Nitest ousted Daniel with a 21-14, 18-21, 23-21 win to claim his stake at the top of the podium.

    The first set ensued between Nitesh and Daniel, a closely-knit affair. With both shuttles playing in a vertical half-court, rallies were quite longer. With both shuttles going neck-to-neck, Daniel enjoyed a slender lead with the scoreline reading at 4-5. Daniel stayed in front midway through the first set with an 11-13 lead.

    As the game progressed, Nitesh upped the ante in the second half of the first set to enforce his dominance over the Great Britain shuttler. A flurry of points saw him edge Daniel and wrap up the first set with a 21-14 lead.

    In the second set, it was Nitesh who took a slender 5-4 lead. Daniel tried to counterattack with in-body smashes. But the Indian, on several occasions, effectively negated it away with his defensive prowess.

    Nitesh slowly extended his lead to three by luring Daniel into making informed errors. He either went too long or placed the shuttle too short, allowing Nitesh to stay in the lead. Daniel retaliated by showcasing grit and display by winning three consecutive points to restore parity at 14-14.

    The second set went right down the wire, with Nitesh taking a narrow one-point lead and Daniel breathing right down the Indian’s neck by cutting short his lead. Daniel shifted through gears and increased the intensity by mixing smash and drop shots effectively.

    Daniel eventually took the lead with a well-placed shot right at the line, which Nitesh couldn’t lift across the net. His late surge saw him take two consecutive points to take the second set with an 18-21 win.

    The shades of the first two sets were visible in the gold medal decider. Once again, it was a closely fought affair between the two shuttles. But Nitesh managed to take a slim lead at the halfway mark, with the scoreline reading 11-10.

    Daniel tried to adopt an aggressive approach, and Nitesh replied with the same intensity to keep his one-point lead intact.

    But unlike the previous set, Nitesh raised the bar and raced to a five-point lead to take a step closer to the gold medal.

    But Daniel wasn’t in the mood to let Nitesh get his hands on the gold medal so easily. With precision, he reduced Nitesh’s lead to just a point.

    He couldn’t follow it up and struck the net, which allowed Nitesh to extend his lead to three points at 19-16. As Nitesh stood just two points away from the gold medal, Daniel made the Indian dance to his tune and restored the parity at 19-19.

    Nitesh netted the shuttle, leaving Daniel just one point away from the gold. Nitesh made it 21-21 with a drop shot, which Daniel couldn’t get enough height. Nitesh got his hands on the coveted gold after Daniel placed the shuttle outside the court. The crowd erupted with joy as Nitesh animatedly celebrated his win.

    After settling the historic gold, both shuttles shook hands and exchanged jerseys with each other. Nitesh arrived in the final after defeating Japan’s Daisuke Fujihara in straight sets, 21–16, 21–12, in the semifinals.

  • Sunil Gavaskar Blasts Badminton Star Lakshya Sen’s Performance: ‘Lost Focus And Concentration In Crucial Moments’ | Other

    The Paris Olympics 2024 has been a mixed experience for Indian sports fans. Following the remarkable success of the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, where India secured a record seven medals, expectations were high for an even better performance in Paris. Unfortunately, despite a series of narrow misses and some unfortunate events, like Vinesh Phogat’s disqualification, India ended up with six medals.

    Badminton, a sport in which India has traditionally performed well, failed to bring home any medals this time. Since the 2012 Olympics, Indian badminton players have consistently won at least one medal. However, this time the star duo of Satwik Sairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty did not advance to the semi-finals. Lakshya Sen, the singles player, became the first Indian male shuttler to reach an Olympic semi-final but fell short in crucial matches, despite being in strong positions.

    In light of these performances, badminton legend Prakash Padukone urged the sport’s stars to deliver better results, given the ample support from the government and other stakeholders. Padukone’s comments sparked controversy, but former Indian cricket captain Sunil Gavaskar defended him while criticizing Lakshya Sen’s performance.

    Gavaskar highlighted Padukone’s long-standing involvement with Sen, noting that Padukone had guided and mentored him closely. In a column for Sportstar, Gavaskar reflected on Sen’s performance, expressing disappointment over Sen’s inability to capitalize on his lead in the semi-final against Viktor Axelsen and his subsequent loss in the bronze medal match against Lee Zii Jia, despite winning the first game comfortably. .

    Gavaskar suggested that Sen appeared to lose focus and concentration during these critical moments. Observing Sen’s body language, such as his blank expressions and distracted behavior during breaks, Gavaskar felt that Sen’s mental focus might have faltered. He noted that concentration and focus are difficult to teach and must come from within the athlete. While mind trainers can offer some assistance, the ultimate responsibility lies with the athlete to develop these traits through personal resolve and observation of other champions.

  • Asian Games 2023: Pair of Satwik and Chirag won historic gold medal in badminton

    India’s Satwik Sairaj Rankireddy And Chirag Shetty The pair has won a historic gold medal in the badminton men’s doubles event of the Asian Games by defeating South Korea’s Choi Solgyu and Kim Wonho in straight games 21-18, 21-16. The world number three Indian pair made several comebacks and won the first game in 29 minutes. In the second game, they put pressure on the 15th ranked opposing team and won in 57 minutes. Satwik and Chirag, who won a medal for India in the Asian Championships after 58 years in March this year, have also won a medal for India in the Asian Games after 41 years. Leroy D’Souza and Pradeep Gandhe had won bronze medals in 1982.

    India’s best performance in Asian Games

    Satwik and Chirag are the first Indian pair to win a gold medal in the Asian Games. He defeated former world champions Aaron Chia and Soh Wui Yik in the semi-finals. This is India’s best performance in the badminton event of the Asian Games. India won men’s doubles gold, team silver and men’s singles bronze. India had won one silver and one bronze in Jakarta.

    Indian pair will reach top in world ranking

    With this victory, Satwik and Chirag will occupy the top position in the BWF world rankings. He won gold at the 2022 Commonwealth Games, 2022 Thomas Cup title and 2022 World Championships bronze. Both have also won Asian Championship gold, Indonesia Super 1000, Korea Super 500 and Swiss Open Super 300.

    India won bronze in women’s hockey

    Just two days after losing the semi-finals, the Indian women’s hockey team made a comeback with great courage by defeating Japan 2-1 and winning the bronze medal in the Asian Games. Coach Yanke Shopman could not control her tears on the field even after the hooter and seeing the players jumping with joy, it became clear what this bronze means to the team.

    Women’s team lost to China in the semi-finals

    India’s hopes of qualifying directly for the Paris Olympics were dashed with a 0-4 loss to China in the semi-finals. Despite this, the team bravely faced the challenge of Japan and won the bronze medal match. For the Indian team, which finished fourth in the Tokyo Olympics, Deepika scored in the fifth minute and Sushila Chanu scored in the 50th minute, while Yuri Nagai scored the only goal for Japan. The last time India won the silver medal was in the 2018 Games held in Jakarta.

    Jyoti, Devtale’s hat-trick of gold, nine medals for Indian archers

    India’s experienced compound archers Jyothi Surekha Vennam and Ojas Deotale scored a hat-trick of gold medals and with this, Indian archers won a record nine medals in these Asian Games. Compound archers broke Korea’s dominance by winning all five medals. Abhishek Verma got silver medal and Aditi Swami got bronze medal. Recurve archers had won two medals on Friday, which has happened for the first time in 13 years in the Olympic Games.

    History created in archery

    Earlier, India had won three medals in the 2014 Games held in Incheon. The team had won two silver medals in Jakarta. Current world champion Aditi Swami defeated Ratih Jilijati F of Indonesia in a one-sided playoff match for the bronze medal. 17-year-old Aditi, who won the World Championship title in Berlin two months ago, won 146-140. Later, Jyoti won her third gold by defeating So Chaewon of South Korea 149-145. She has won gold in mixed doubles and women’s team category.

  • Lakshya Sen hopes for gold medal in Asian Games also, said- we are world champion

    Lakshya Sen is at number 11 in the world ranking

    Sen, ranked 11th in the world, had lost to Kidambi Srikanth in men’s singles in the Asian Games selection trials in May this year. He said that he is participating only in team competition in these games, so he can get a chance to meet a champion player like Neeraj Chopra. Sen said, ‘I am only playing the team event. So, I am looking forward to meeting Neeraj Chopra. If I get some time, I would love to watch his fight and support him.