Paralympian Sivarajan Solaimalai flies to get a point at Paris Olympics
2 min read
Social media went wild over India’s Para-Badminton player Sivarajan Solaimalai after he showed such great dedication to the Paralympics. On Friday, August 30, the para-shuttler competing in the SH6 division displayed incredible fitness to win a point in the men’s singles competition. Thousands of admirers commended his effort when they saw the footage of him diving about on the court versus Man-kai Chu of Hong Kong, China, which was released on the Paralympic website.
The event occurred during Solaimalai’s crucial second-game comeback against Chu in his group-stage match. In the video, which went viral on social media, Solaimalai could be seen diving to both sides of the court when Chu caught him off surprise. With a tremendous leap, the player entered from his left side and dived to grab the drop shot. The Indian athlete’s ability to ‘fly’ on the court was praised by many on social media.
Badminton, #ParisParalympics: WHAT A GET THAT FROM SIVARAJAN SOLAIMALAI IN THE MEN'S SINGLES SH6 ENCOUNTER AGAINST TOKYO🥈Chu Man Kai!
— Vishank Razdan (@VishankRazdan) August 30, 2024
Courtesy: Paralympics Games YT page..
👏👏👏 Both Siva & Chu! pic.twitter.com/9Uanuy4wav
A Flying save for a Point
In a tough match in the men’s singles badminton competition, India’s Sivarajan Solaimalai lost his Group A match against Man-kai Chu of China in Hong Kong. During a three-game war, both shuttlers pushed each other to extraordinary heights. After losing the opening game 13–21, Solaimalai produced a spectacular comeback in the Group A encounter. Following a close victory of 21–18 in the second game, Solaimalai lost the match 13–21, 21–18, 15–21 in the decider due to further errors.
Read More: Avani Lekhara is India’s first female Paralympian with 3 medals
This was the second defeat for Solaimalai in the Group A match. He had suffered a series of defeats in his opening Paralympic match against Subhan of Indonesia. There is one more group stage match for Solaimalai in Paris, where he will play Krysten Coombs of Great Britain.
Other events at the Paralympics 2024 included shuttler Suhas Yathiraj, who won silver in the Tokyo Games, and Nitesh Kumar, who extended his remarkable streak to qualify for the men’s singles SL4 and SL3 semifinals here on Friday. After winning Group A, Murugesan Thulasimathi advanced to the women’s singles SU5 semifinals as well. She secured her second victory in the group, defeating Portuguese Beatriz Monteiro 21-12 21-8.In his second match, Suhas, an IAS officer from the 2007 batch, defeated Shin Kyung Hwan of Korea 26-24, 21-14, to win the three-man Group A in the SL4 category.
