The Brazil Para Badminton International 2022 belonged to India as they dominated the medal table with eight gold, seven silver and 13 bronze in Sao Paulo on Sunday.
SL3 star Mandeep Kaur was the biggest contributor to the tally, acing SL3 women’s singles and SL3-SU5 women’s doubles. She and partner Chirag Baretha also finished second in SL3-SU5 mixed doubles.
India’s star shuttler Pramod Bhagat, however, surprisingly took two bronze medals following semifinal defeats in SL3 men’s singles to compatriot Kumar Nitesh and SL3-SU5 mixed doubles with Palak Kohli to Daisuke Fujihara/Akiko Sugino.
Nitesh, who then went all the way, later combined with SL4 men’s singles champion Tarun Dhillon to take on countrymen Mohammad Arwaz Ansari/Deep Ranjan Bisoyee in the SL3-SL4 men’s doubles final. The settled for silver after losing a close match 21-13 17-21 18-21.
Meanwhile, Peruvians Carmen Giuliana Poveda Flores and Pilar Jauregui Cancino bagged themselves a hattrick each.
Flores triumphed in SH6 women’s singles, women’s doubles (with Rubi Milagros Fernandez Vargas) and mixed doubles (with Nilton Quispe Ignacio) while Jauregui clinched gold in WH2 women’s singles and WH1-WH2 women’s doubles with Silvia Silva Arizapana. Her other win came in mixed doubles alongside Italian Yuri Ferrigno.
Flores was in good form in Sao Paulo.
Paralympic champion Daiki Kajiwara returned home to Japan with two titles, winning WH2 men’s singles and WH1-WH2 men’s doubles (with Keita Nishimura).
Fellow Tokyo 2020 gold medallist Cheah Liek Hou reigned supreme in SU5 men’s singles after beating Frenchman Meril Loquette 21-17 21-17.
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