The Indian para-shuttler Manoj Sarkar wins bronze for India beating the Japanese international Daisuke Fujihara 22-20 and 21-13 in the men’s singles SL3 category.
Overjoyed by @manojsarkar07’s wonderful performance. Congrats to him for bringing home the prestigious Bronze Medal in badminton. Wishing in the very best for the times ahead. #Paralympics #Praise4Para
— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) September 4, 2021
Manoj Sarkar made his way through to the bronze medal match after defeating Ukraine’s Oleksandr Chyrkov 21-16 and 21-9 in the knockout stages to finish in the second spot of Group A early in the competition. He ended up losing to Daniel Bethell of Great Britain in the semifinals bout.
The game started with Fujihara taking the lead 5-4. Sarkar came back and took the lead for the first time in the game with 7-6 in his favour. He further extended his lead and went on to win the first set in a nail-biting finish of 22-20 to take the first set point.
Sarkar continued his form into the second set and took the lead early on by 3-2 in his favour. Sarkar took the game the second set by 21-13 to win India a bronze medal along with his countryman Pramod Bhagat who won the gold in the debut entry of badminton at the Paralympic Games in Tokyo.
The Arjuna awardee Manoj Sarkar had told TOI after his selection for the Paralympics, “The pandemic has been difficult for all of us but, the news of going to the Paralympics has brought positivity.”
