India's Suhas Yathiraj, Pramod Bhagat and Krishna Nagar progressed to the men's singles finals in various categories at the Para-Badminton World Championship in Pattaya, Thailand on Saturday. (More Badminton News)
World No. 3 Yathiraj, a Paralympic silver medallist, upset world no. 1 Lucas Mazur of France 21-16 21-19 in the men's singles SL4 semi-final to reach the finals for the first time in his career.
Lucas is a reigning world champion and paralympic gold medallist.
The 40-year-old Indian, who hails from Karnataka, is an IAS officer of the 2007 batch of Uttar Pradesh cadre.
Yathiraj, who is currently the Secretary and Director General of Youth Welfare and Prantiya Rakshak Dal in the UP government, will square off against Indonesia's Fredy Setiawan in the final.
In another SL4 semifinal, Sukant Kadam lost 13-21 19-21 to Fredy Setiawan.
In men's singles SL3 class, Paralympic gold medallist Pramod Bhagat outwitted fellow Indian Manoj Sarkar 23-21 20-22 21-18 and will face England's Daniel Bethell in the finals.
Bethell beat India's Nitesh Kumar 21-18 20-22 21-14 in the other semifinal.
In SH6 category, Krishna Nagar, a Paralympic gold medal winner, beat Vitor Tavares of Brazil 21-16 21-17 to set up a meeting with China's Lin Naili.
In women's singles SU5, Manisha Ramadass beat France's Maud Lefort 19-21 21-21 21-14 in the semifinals to set up a summit clash against China's Yang Qiu Xia.
In SH6 women's doubles, Rachana Shaileshkumar and Nithya Sre Sumathy Sivan also entered the finals with a 21-16 21-17 win over Indonesian pair of Daria Bujnicka and Oliwia Szmigiel.
The men's doubles pair of Chirag Baretha and Raj Kumar, and women's combination of Mandeep kaur and Manisha Ramadass, advanced to the semifinals of SU5 and SL3-SU5 class to assure medals for themselves in the tournament.
Among others, Nithye Sre, Palak Kohli and Manisha Girishchandra lost their respective semifinals in SH6, SL4 and SL3 class in women's singles to sign off with bronze medals.
Pramod and Sukant also settled for bronze in men's doubles SL3-SL4 after losing 16-21 16-21 to Thai pair of Mongkhon Bunsun and Siripong Teamarrom.
