Suhas Yathiraj, Pramod Bhagat, and Krishna Nagar won gold medals in SL4, SL3 and SH6 classes, respectively, on Sunday and made the whole country proud of their staggering triumph at the Para Badminton World Championship in Pattaya, in Thailand.
Suhas Yathiraj, an IAS officer of the 2007 batch of Uttar Pradesh cadre and also currently ranked at world No 3, overpowered Indonesia’s Fredy Setiawan at 21-18 21-18 in the final. “Gold it is, Happy and proud to be World Champion,” tweeted the 40-year-old Yathiraj, who originally hails from Karnataka and presently serving as the Secretary and Director General of Youth Welfare and Prantiya Rakshak Dal in the UP government.
Uttar Pradesh CM, Yogi Adityanath also acclaimed Yathiraj.
Hat-trick of Pramod Bhagat
35-Year old, Pramod Bhagat, who also won a gold and two bronze medals at the Para Asian Games in China, defeated England’s Daniel Bethell in SL3 category and secured his third consecutive world title after being victorious in Stoke Mandeville in 2015 and Basel in 2019.
It’s a huge achievement for Bhagat, as he is now the first para-athlete to win three consecutive golds at the BWF Para Badminton World Championships. It equals the record of Lin Dan’s five World Championships, who had won gold in 2009, 2015, 2019, 2022 and 2024. “First being that I have managed to equal my idol Lin Dan’s record of five world championships and second being having been able to retain three consecutive world championships,” he commented on his achievements.
Krishna Nagar won a gold medal.
Krishna Nagar, a Paralympic gold medal winner, also emerged as champion after defeating China’s Lin Naili at a close contest of 22-20 22-20, in another men’s singles final, SH6 category.
