Ace para-athlete Pramod Bhagat has been honoured with the Padma Shri under the sports category on Tuesday. With this, Bhagat became the first Para-Badminton athlete to receive the prestigious civilian award.
The para-shuttler from Odisha, who became the first Indian to win a gold medal in badminton at the Paralympics, left everyone amazed with his performance. Bringing honour to the nation, the ace athlete was flooded with praises from all quarters.
Earlier in October 2021, Bhagat also was conferred with the Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award.
Bhagat got overwhelmed upon learning about the prestigious honour to him.
“It’s a truly humbling experience to be honoured with the Padma Shri award and will serve to inspire me to earn more laurels for my country,” said an elated Bhagat.
He further went on to add, “This will inspire me to strive harder and put in extra efforts in training for the Asian Games and World Championships which are scheduled for this year.”
It is pertinent to mention here that, 2022 will be an important and busy year for the ace para-shuttler with more than 14 odd tournaments. This year also includes the Asian Games and the World Championship. And with Paralympics scheduled for 2024, this year becomes even more crucial.