World Champion Para Shuttler from Odisha, Pramod Bhagat etched glory for his State and the country by winning gold medal in the Badminton Singles event at the ongoing Tokyo Paralympics, on Saturday.
Pramod won the gold medal match by defeating his strong opponent, Great Britain's Daniel Bethell, in two straight games-- 21-14, 21-17. This was Pramod's first-ever participation at any Paralympic Games.
After a dominant display in the first game, the 4-time BWF Champion initially went down in the second but overcame the deficit in a strong manner before ultimately wrapping up gold for him and the country.
The win means that India has now bagged a total of 17 medals with 4 golds alone at the 16th edition of the Paralympic Games, the world's second biggest sporting spectacle.
Meanwhile, Pramod's historic win at the Tokyo Games, which is being touted as one of the best ever success for any sportsman from Odisha has sparked jubilations across the State.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi was one of the first to congratulate the Odia boy on his stupendous success. The Prime Minister took to Twitter to share a congratulatory message in his Twitter handle.
Golden boy!!! What a performance!!! Thank you for making Odisha & India proud again!, wrote former Parliamentarian from Odisha and National Vice President of BJP, Jay Panda.
Pramod Bhagat scripts history to bag 1st ever gold medal in Men's Singles SL3 event at Paralympics. A remarkable achievement, Union Youth Affairs & Sports Minister Anurag Thakur writes in his congratulatory message.
Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik also extended greetings to the Pramod after he became the first-ever shuttler to win Gold Medal in para-badminton men's singles SL3 at Paralympic Games.