Exclusive/ 'In the Final, I Just Kept on Telling...': Nitesh Kumar Reflects on Paralympics Showdown vs Bethell

After defeating Daniel Bethell of Great Britain in an exciting men's singles SL3 badminton final on Monday, India's Kumar Nitesh won his first gold medal at the Paralympics. Against Tokyo silver medallist Bethell 21-14 18-21 in an exciting game spanning an hour and 20 minutes, the 29-year-old from Haryana was rock strong in his defence and right on with his shot choices.

Like Nitesh, SL3 class players suffer with more severe lower limb problems and must play on a half-width court. Nitesh lost his left leg in a rail accident in Visakhapatnam in 2009 but recovered from the trauma and discovered his vocation in para badminton when he was fifteen.

Nitesh's triumph on Monday guaranteed that India kept the SL3 gold after Pramod Bhagat won the championship three years ago when para badminton first entered Tokyo. 

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Gold Medallist Nitesh Kumar speaks on his Paralympics 2024 final experience vs Daniel Bethell

Gold Medal winner Nitesh Kumar told to The Republic in an exclusive interview about the event that made him think: the Paralympic 2024 final. He talked about how he felt about competing for the first time without feeling pressured. As the best in the world, he had a lot of standards and duties, and he knew how hard it would be mentally to beat Daniel Bethell. Nitesh Kumar said: 

“I just... I have being the world number one and the number one seed, of course I had that expectations and responsibility to win gold or to be in the finals and looking at the head-to-head what I had with my opponent Daniel, I was lagging 0-8. So I knew that it's going to be a mental game because I played him a lot of times and then, being the Paralympics final, I knew it's going to be pressurized for both of us. But yeah, he was the one to lose a lot because he had a 0 lead and I was just going out to challenge him. So yeah, it feels amazing that I could put up the best performance at the best platform I could ever have and then winning it by 23-21 in the third set. It was very crazy, very intense, and then I'm glad I could keep my composure and calm and then pull it off the win and bring back the gold.”

Nitesh Kumar considered prior failures and admitted the mental strain and nervousness. He added: 

"In the past, I have had a few losses like that, that I was leading and then one thing slipped off my mind and then the match flew off my hands. Very quickly, one of them was the Asian Paragames 23 final where I lost to Pramod Bhagat in the third set 19-21 after leading 19-16. So, yeah, even in the final, I just kept on telling myself that he's into more pressure and it's just about who's going to sleep first. And then I just kept myself telling that I have to stand there and then keep on pushing myself and then, he'll get that pressure and I could see right from the first point, first big rally and the first point I got that yeah, he's into pressure and he's nervous about it. And because and the way he was playing during the whole tournament, nobody crossed 10 points against him in the matches and I had few close games. I won a very close game with Manoj VI in the group. So, yeah, every game kind of prepared me for the final game and then yeah, it was all about the nerves and then I just one thing I just kept on telling myself that okay, I have to be there and I don't have to do what I did in the previous matches and like that. And then, yeah, of course, eventually, lagging 19-20, 20 in the final game and then winning it off 23-21, yeah, it was huge and then, this game has been the best I played ever so I'm really proud of myself for putting up such a big show."