Sukant, Suhas, Tarun make winning start in Paralympics

PARIS: India’s Sukant Kadam, Suhas Yathiraj and Tarun notched up contrasting wins in their respective opening men’s singles SL4 group matches to make a resounding start to their campaign in para-badminton competition at the Paralympics here on Thursday.

Sukant, 31, who had suffered a knee injury after a bad fall in a cricket field when he was just 10, recovered from an opening game reversal to emerge 17-21, 21-15, 22-20 winner over Malaysia’s Mohammed Amin Burhanuddin in his opening Group B match. He fought back from 16-20 down in the decider by reeling off six points on the trot.

Tokyo Paralympics silver medallist Suhas, on the other hand, hardly broke any sweat as he zoomed past Indonesia’s Hikmat Ramdani 21-7, 21-5 in his group A match which lasted just 22 minutes.

Playing in his second Olympics, Tarun, who had badly injured his knee after an accident while playing football, defeated Brazil’s Oliveira Rogerio Junior Xavier 21-17, 21-19 in men’s singles SL4 group D match.