Tokyo Paralympics: Can’t express how happy we are, says gold medalist Pramod Bhagat's brother
Pramod Bhagat clinched the gold medal in badminton at Tokyo Paralympics by defeating Bathell 21-14, 21-17 in two straight sets on Saturday.
In Short
- Pramod Bhagat is the 1st Indian to win a para badminton gold medal
- Pramod hails from a small village, Attabira, in Bargarh district of Odisha
- Pramod won the gold medal in men's singles badminton SL3 event
Ace para shuttler from Odisha Pramod Bhagat scripted history by becoming first badminton player from India to win a gold medal at the Paralympic Games by beating Great Britain’s Daniel Bathell 2-0 in the Men’s Singles SL3 final at the Tokyo on Saturday.
Bhagat clinched the Gold medal by defeating Bathell 21-14, 21-17 in two straight sets. He won the first game in 21 minutes and the second in 24 minutes.
Coming from small village Attabira in Bargarh district of Odisha, contracted Polio at the age of Four, Pramod has five siblings, two brothers and three sisters. He lost both his parents few years back.
Talking to India Today, Pramod’s younger brother Shekhar said, "We can’t express our happiness in words, how happy we are after our brother Pramod won the Gold medal.
"He was in love with badminton, "sometimes our father used to get infuriated over his playing badminton every time, Dad would say instead of playing most of the time, if you put your mind to studies, you can get a good job. Now he has brought Gold for country.
"Pramod use to say, once he wins a gold medal, he will get married."
As soon as the news of Pramod winning the Gold medal broke, his family members, friends and neighbours gathered outside his ESIC Government quarter at Bhubaneswar and started celebrating.
The scene was similar at his hometown in attabira.
Earlier, Odisha Secretary Sports and Youth services Vineel Krishna took to twitter and wrote All the Best #GOForGold after Bhagat sought support and prayers from all before the Final match.
Pramod had written "It’s a big day for Indian Sports tomorrow & I would want all of us to come together. When I picked up the racquet in my teenage it was my dream to be playing at this level & serving the nation in my best of limits. My aim is to make India the badminton hub. I hope & pray I succeed."
Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik also extended greetings to Pramod after he became the first-ever shuttler to win Gold Medal in para-badminton men's singles SL3 at the Paralympic Games.