Paris, Sep 3: India's Sumathy Sivan Nithya Sre won her maiden Paralympic medal, beating the former World Champion Rina Larlina of Indonesia 2-0 in the Women's Singles SH6 category to claim a bronze medal here on Monday evening. The 19-year-old Nithya Sre, the top seed in this section, defeated the Indonesian, who won the gold medal in the World Championship in Women's Singles SH6 section in Tokyo in 2022, 21-14, 21-6 in just 23 minutes in the bronze medal match.
It was a revenge of sorts for Nithya Sre as she and her partner Solaimalai Sivarajan had lost to Rina Marlina and her partner Subhan Subhan 17-21, 12-21 in the bronze medal match in the Mixed Doubles SH6 section earlier in the day. The SH6 category is for players with short stature. Having lost the Mixed Doubles match to the Indonesian, Nithya Sre did not give Rina many chances in the first game. She came out firing on all cylinders and surged to a 7-0 lead. Rina clawed her back into the game and won four points in a row as she caught up with Nithya Sre at 10-10.
However, her hopes of surging ahead were shortlived as the Indian won five points in a row and she went on to win the first game 21-14. Nithya Sre dominated the second game as she once again won seven consecutive points from 3-2 to 10-2 and never looked back. Unlike the first game, the 30-year-old Indonesian star could not stitch points together as her Indian opponent maintained her control of the game. Sniothya Sre eventually won the second game 21-6 to lose the match in just 23 minutes.
This is India's fifth medal in the Paris Paralympic badminton competition and the 15th overall including three gold, five silver and seven bronze medals. India is currently placed 15th in the overall medal standings.
