Thulasimathi Murugesan Settles For Silver At Paris Paralympics 2024, Loses To Reigning Champion Yang Qiu Xia

Indian para shuttler Thulasimathi Murugesan settles for a silver medal at the Paris Paralympics 2024 after losing to China's Yang Qiu Xia in the Women’s Singles SU5 category.

Thulasimathi Murugesan, the Indian para shuttler, earned a silver medal at Paris Paralympics 2024 in the Women’s Singles SU5 category after facing a defeat in the final against China’s Yang Qiu Xia on Monday. With this silver, Thulasimathi took India’s overall Paralympics medal tally to 11 medals.

Thulasimathi, the top seed in the tournament, faced off against the reigning Paralympic champion and Tokyo gold medallist Yang Qiu Xia and lost in straight sets. Yang won the match 2-0 (21-12, 21-8).

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Thulasimathi Murugesan No Match For World Champion Yang Qiu Xia

In the gold medal match, Murugesan and Yang started the match even-stevens as they were going neck-to-neck but the Indian shuttler gained a valuable lead as she found herself three points ahead of the Chinese opponent at the halfway stage with the scoreline reading 11-8. However, an amazing comeback by Yang equalled the scoreline in no time and even took a lead at 18-17. Soon enough, the Chinese shuttler showed why she is the reigning world champion and took the first game 21-17.

In the second game, the Indian shuttler seemed to have dealt a confidence blow as she played catch-up throughout the game and ultimately lost the game 21-10.

Earlier, Murugesan booked her spot in the gold medal match by defeating fellow Indian Manisha Ramadass in an exhilarating women’s SU5 semifinal early Monday morning. Top-seeded Thulasimathi emerged victorious in a closely contested match, winning 23-21, 21-17 in just under 40 minutes. 

India has now secured 11 medals at the Paralympic Games so far, including two golds, four silvers and five bronze medals. On Monday, Nishad Kumar added to the tally by winning a silver medal in the men's high jump T47 along with Yogesh Kathuniya, who secured a silver medal with a season-best discus throw of 42.22 metres . Meanwhile, Para Sprinter Preeti Pal earned a bronze medal in the 200m T-35 event on Sunday, finishing with a time of 30.01 seconds. Para shuttler Nitesh Kumar also won a gold medal in the Men's Singles SL4 para badminton Final. Adding to it was Manisha Ramadass who won a the bronze along with Murugesan winning the silver.