Bhagat-Kohli pair enters semifinals; Suhas, Tarun, Manoj too qualify

Tokyo, Sep 03 (PTI): India’s Pramod Bhagat and his partner Palak Kohli qualified for the mixed doubles semifinals, while three singles players, including Noida District Magistrate Suhas Yathiraj, also made the last-four stage to continue a rampaging run at the Paralympics badminton competition here on Friday. Bhagat, who had qualified for the men’s singles SL3 event on Thursday, and Kohli beat Thailand’s Siripong teamarrom and Nipada Saensupa 21-15 21-19 in a 29-minute clash to finish second in group B. The Indian duo will clash with Indonesian pair of Hary Susanto and Leani Ratri in the semifinals on Saturday. In men’s singles, Suhas, Tarun Dhillon and Manoj Sarkar also made it to the semifinals on a fruitful day for India. In SL4 class, Suhas, a world number 3, took 19 minutes to get rid of Indonesia’s Hary Susanto 21-6 21-12 in group A, while Tarun, seeded second, recovered from a mid-game slump to outwit Korea’s Shin Kyung Hwan 21-18 15-21 21-17 in a group B match.
However, Suhas suffered a 15-21 17-21 loss against France’s top seed Lucas Mazur and Tarun went down 19-21 9-21 to Indonesia’s Fredy Setiawan in their final group matches later in the day. In the semifinals, Suhas has been pitted against Setiawan, while Tarun will lock horns with Mazur, a two-time world champion. Suhas has an impairment in one of his ankles, while Tarun has restricted knee movement following a severe injury that he suffered at the age of eight.