India's Nitesh Kumar and Thulasimathi Murugesan had little difficulty overcoming country-mates Suhas Yathiraj and Palak Kohli in the opening group stage match of badminton mixed doubles (SL3-SU5) at the Paralympic Games in Paris on Thursday.
However, mixed doubles duo of Sivarajan Solaimalai and Nithya Sre, seeded second, lost their SH6 group play stage match in straight games to the American pair of Miles Krajewski and Jayci Simon.
The Nitesh-Thulasimathi duo won the Group A contest 21-14, 21-17 in 31 minutes.
Nitesh, 29, who hails from Karnal district in Haryana, and young Thulasimathi, a veterinary science student from Tamil Nadu who had won the mixed bronze at the Asian Para Games in Hangzhou, encountered little challenge in the first game and at one stage they were leading by seven points.
Unable to counter the pair's net play and deep tosses, Suhas and Palak quickly found themselves trailing, losing the game in just 14 minutes.
The second game too went on similar lines with Palak clearly not able to match the prowess of her senior partner on court and giving away points.
SL3 players have moderate impairment on one side of the body, affecting either both legs or the absence of limbs, while SU5 players have significant impairments in their upper limbs.
India's para badminton ace Manasi Joshi fell just short in her quest for gold, losing a closely contested match against Indonesia's top-seeded Qonita Syakuroh in the SL3 category.
Despite winning the first game, Joshi was unable to hold off Syakuroh, who ultimately claimed victory in a thrilling three-set decider. The final score was 21-16, 13-21, 18-21 in favor of Syakuroh.
In Group B, Sivarajan and Nithya gave a tough challenge to the American pair before going down 21-23, 11-21 in 35 minutes in SH6 category. SH6 is for badminton players with short stature.
Sivarajan, who trains at the Pullela Gopichand Academy in Hyderabad, and partner Nithya were equal to the task in the opening game and also took a slender one-point lead but the young American pair, who are both in their late teens, were too agile on court and fought for every point.
The second game turned out to be one-sided with the tiring Indians losing in just 14 minutes.
