Bhubaneswar: Ace para shuttler of Odisha Pramod Bhagat has brought laurels for the country once again by clinching a bronze medal in the mixed doubles category of the third Dubai Para Badminton International Tournament 2021 in Dubai on Saturday.
Pramod and his partner Palak Kohli had to content with the third place finish in the mixed doubles category. The duo from India lost 17-21, 5-21 to French pair of Lucas Mazur and Noel Faustine in the semi-final match. Pramod and Palak gave a tough contest to the France duo in the first set. But in the second set, they lost the momentum giving an opportunity to the opposition to bounce back.
However, Pramod had improved performances both in the singles and doubles category. He excelled splendidly to enter the summit clashes in both the categories.
In the singles semi-final, Pramod prevailed over Md Abdul Malek Huzairi of Malaysia 21-07, 21-17. The Odisha para shuttler will meet his compatriot Nitesh Kumar in the summit clash on Sunday.
In the doubles semi-final, Pramod and his Indian partner Manoj Sarkar edged out Deep Ranjan Bisoyee and Arbaz Ansari of India 23-21, 21-19 in a keenly contested match. Pramod and Manoj will lock horns with their compatriot Sukant Kadam and his partner Nitesh Kumar in the Sunday final.
(Edited by Suryakant Jena)