World No 1 para-shuttler Pramod Bhagat registered an easy victory over Ukraine’s Oleksandr Chyrkov in his second group A match of the Tokyo Paralympics to sail into men’s singles semifinals on Thursday. The reigning world champion won 21-12, 21-9 against the Ukrainian to top his group and enter SL3 last four. In his first match, he had defeated compatriot Manoj Sarkar 21-10, 21-23, 21-9.
“I was in the groove today and played really well. Chyrkov is a good player and played some good strokes in the match. I am very happy that I have reached the semifinals,” Bhagat said after the match. “Things are going to be tough from here as the knockout stages start. My focus is on one match at a time and also the last league game of the mixed doubles which is a do-or-die situation for us.” Bhagat and Palak Kohli will play Siripong Teamarrom and Nipada Saensupa in mixed doubles class SL3-SU5 on Friday.
Other Indian shuttlers, including Suhas Yathiraj, Tarun Dhillon and Krishna Nagar also won their respective singles matches. Dhillon beat Thailand’s Siripong Teamarrom 21-7, 21-3 while Yathiraj won 21-9, 21-3 against Germany’s Jan Niklas Pott in SL4 category. Nagar defeated Malaysia’s Taresoh Didin 22-20, 21-10 in SH6 class. In women’s singles SU5 class, Kohli lost her opening match against Japan’s Ayako Suzuki but came back to beat Turkey’s Zehra Baglar in her next outing in SU5 category. Parul Parmar, however, lost both her matches in SL3 class.
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