The minister of youth affairs and sports activities Mansukh Mandaviya on Wednesday honoured Nitesh, Thulasimathi Murugesan (silver), Suhas Yathiraj (silver), Manisha Ramadass (bronze), and Nithya Sre Sivan (bronze) on the SAI headquarters for his or her excellent performances on the Paralympics.
Nitesh revealed that his technique was to strategy the Paralympics one sport at a time, particularly after Bhagat’s 18-month suspension previous to the Para Video games. This mindset helped him keep targeted and in the end safe the gold medal within the males’s singles SL3 class.
“I considered taking one sport at a time, going on the market as World No. 1, first seed, it was a duty for me to win the title, particularly when Pramod was unable to take part within the Paralympics,” he informed PTI in an unique interplay.
“It was an additional duty for me to exit and win for India. Getting into the ultimate, I knew it could be intense and mentally powerful for each of us. I had the boldness to be superior to him and be at my finest”, he added.
Mandaviya counseled the Indian athletes for his or her excellent efficiency, which resulted within the highest medal rely within the nation’s historical past. He expressed optimism that the staff would proceed to excel and safe further medals within the remaining occasions of the event
“We’ll cheer for Bharat and within the coming days, our gamers will struggle for 11 extra medals. I imagine that the best way our gamers are performing within the Paralympics, they’ve a brilliant future forward,” he mentioned.
“India nonetheless has an opportunity to win 11 extra medals on the Paralympics,” mentioned Mandaviya.
Yathiraj, who efficiently defended his silver medal from Tokyo, has dominated out any plans of retiring within the close to future.
“Successful the silver medal is a problem in itself. Each participant desires to win the gold and the frustration stays once they do not win,” mentioned Yathiraj.
“Life’s a journey and I need to reside this second, not pondering a lot about my future within the sport proper now,” he mentioned whereas speaking about his retirement.
Murugesan mentioned, “I’m pleased with silver. I feel I’ve to work tougher for altering the color of my medal.”
Head coach Gaurav Khanna hoped India’s medal rely will enhance within the subsequent version. “We aimed to win 8-10 medals however needed to settle with 5. We hope that we are going to obtain our targets within the 2028 version,” he mentioned.
