Indian para shuttlers had a very good outing at the 2026 BWF Para Badminton World Championships, confirming 15 medals in Manama, Bahrain, on Thursday.
This included 14 medals in the standing categories and one historic medal in the wheelchair section for the mixed doubles pair of Prem Kumar Ale and Alphia James.
India dominates men’s SL3 & SL4 categories
The most successful category for India is the men’s doubles SL3-SL4 category, where three Indian pairs confirmed their place in the semi-finals.
The top seed pairing of Pramod Bhagat and Sukant Kadam defeated Korea’s Joo Dong Jae and Shin Kyung Hwan in the quarterfinals to confirm a medal.
Following them, the two other pairs of Umesh Vikram Kumar /Surya Kant Yadav and the second seed Jagadesh Dili /Naveen Sivakumar confirmed an all-Indian semi-final.
India also had a very good day in the men’s singles category of SL3 and SL4 section respectively, having two players each in the semi-finals.
Three-time defending champion Pramod Bhagat and reigning Paralympic champion Nitesh Kumar in SL3; while Sukant Kadam and Naveen Sivakumar in SL4 have reached the semis.
The men’s singles SH6 defending champion, Krishna Nagar, has also reached the semi-final after a fighting three-game win over China’s Lin Naili.
Meanwhile, only 3 Indian – Manisha Ramadass (SU5), Thulasimathi Murugesan (SU5) and Nithya Sre Sivan (SH6) – qualified in the women’s singles semifinals.
Thulasimathi, partnering with Manasi Joshi, has also booked her spot in women’s doubles SL3-SU5 semi-final with a dominant win over Mandeep Kaur and Manisha.
The final two medals for India were confirmed by two mixed doubles pairings of Chirag Baretha/Mandeep (SL3-SU5) and Krishna Nagar/Nithya (SH6).
