Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday congratulated India's para Badminton contingent for their performance at the BWF Para Badminton World Championships which took place between August 20 and 25. India's team won an outstanding 12 medals at the World Championships, including three golds. Pramod Bhagat won two gold medals, competing in the men's singles SL 3 category as well as in the doubles' category. In the latter, he partnered with Manoj Sarkar. Manasi Joshi, meanwhile, won her maiden gold in the SL3 finals.

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Prime Minister's Greetings

Earlier, Para Athlete Sukant Kadam, who won the Bronze medal in the men's singles SL4 category had requested the Prime Minister to meet the successful para-badminton contingent, especially since they missed out on the opportunity post the Asian Games. The Prime Minister said "130 crore Indians are extremely proud of the Indian Para Badminton contingent, which has brought home 12 medals at BWF World Championships 2019. Congratulations to the entire team, whose success is extremely gladdening and motivating. Each of these players is remarkable!"

Apart from the three gold medals, India's total tally included four silvers and five bronze medals. Manasi Joshi, who is also trained by Pullela Gopichand, bagged the third gold medal after she defeated Parul Parmar 21-12, 21-7. In a tweet after the tournament, Manasi said she was "stoked to have the Gold". She also congratulated PV Sindhu after she won her maiden gold medal at the World Championships and also called her "GOAT", an abbreviation for Greatest of All Time.

Speaking to the Paralympic Committee of India, Manasi said, “I have trained extremely hard, training three sessions a day. The focus was on my fitness so I also lost some weight and gained more muscle. I spent more time in the gym, working six sessions a week. I had also put lot of effort to improve my strokes and played matches every day with players at the Gopichand Academy. I believe the improvements are already showing”. 

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Rewards for the athletes

Sports Minister Kiren Rijiju met the athletes on Tuesday and said that the Ministry has decided to reward the athletes with an amount up to Rs 20 lakhs per athlete. As per recently amended guidelines, "which are organised by International Paralympic Committee as well as in events that are not organised by IPC, but organised by respective International Sports Federation and recognized by International Olympic Committee, will be eligible for cash awards from the government". A new rule also stated that medal winners at international events will be rewarded on the day they return and not at an annual ceremony to facilitate the athletes.