Odisha World No 1 para-shuttler Pramod Bhagat has officially qualified to participate in mens singles badminton competition of the Tokyo Paralympic Games, scheduled to be held from 25 August to 5 September, 2021. This was confirmed with World Badminton Federation (BWF) sending official invitation to Bhagat and two more Indian shuttlers through Badminton Association of India (BAI) and Paralympic Committee of India (PCI) today.

Other two Indians to qualify for Tokyo Paralympics are: Tarun (Men singles SL4 and Krishna Nagar (Men singles SH6). Earlier last month, Indian women pair of Palak Kohli and Parul Parmar became the first from the country to receive invitations for the Tokyo Games. This is the first-time badminton is being introduced in Paralympics.

Qualification of Bhagat became a bit doubtful as he could not compete in recent international tournaments due to COVID-19 pandemic. However, being at the top of world rankings with sufficient points he eventually made the cut. Bhagat will compete in SL3 category, which stands for minor standing or lower limb impairment.

“I am very excited to be invited, every athlete dreams of participating in the Olympics and it is the same for me,” Bhagat said. “I am very focused and winning a gold at the Paralympics is my dream and I have been training very hard to achieve this,” he added.