India's Krishna bags two gold medals; China best team at 2nd Fazza event

Krishna Nagar of India beat England's world no. 2 Krysten Coombs. - Supplied photo

The 2018 Indonesia Asian Para Games bronze medallist Krishna Nagar of India was the surprise winner with two gold medals as the 2nd Fazza-Dubai Para Badminton International Championships concluded at the Shabab Al Ahli Club on Sunday, a press release from Asian Paralympic Committee said.
A day after upsetting World no. 1 Jack Shepherd in the men's singles SS6 semifinals, Nagar pulled off the second upset in as many days when he defeated England's world no. 2 Krysten Coombs 20-22, 25-23, 21-12 in the most exciting final of the day, that went over an hour.
"Yes, this is the biggest win of my career," an elated Nagar told Asian Paralympic Committee, before he went on to make it two-for-two, winning the mixed doubles title along with Raja Magotra.
"This has been also the best tournament for me. This is big the motivation in this important year and going ahead in the road to Tokyo 2020," said the left-handed player, who started playing the sport only in 2018 and won his first medal at the Thailand International in July last year.
Overall, Team India had a good run at the event finishing with nine medals including four gold medals on Sunday. Among others, World no. 1 Pramod Bhagat and Parul Parmer took the gold in SL3 men's and women's singles respectively.
However, Asian Para Games winner Tarun Tarun went down to French world no. 1 Lucas Mazur in straight games 13-21, 17-21 in men's singles SL4 final.
But it was the badminton powerhouse China that emerged as the best team, winning 19 medals including six gold medals in the second largest-ever field in the history of Para Badminton. As many as 270 players from 37 nations took part at the event.
Badminton World Federation Para Badminton vice president Paul Kurzo said that he was surprised to see such big number of entries at the event.
"I am happy to see how Para Badminton is growing. And with its debut in Paralympics, the sport will reach a new level," he said.
"I really want to appreciate and thank the local organising committee for conducting everything so well. The scheduling of matches was a headache with so many players here, but they pulled it off well. We always like coming to Dubai," he said.
Majid Rashed, Asian Paralympic Committee President and Executive Director, Dubai Club for People of Determination, thanked the BWF for giving the opportunity to host the event.
"We hope to succeed together with the BWF and deliver a great championship to everyone. In the year of tolerance, we want to send message to everyone that sports is about peace, tolerance and getting together. Congratulations to all the winners here and good luck next time to the ones who missed out," said Rashed.
Meanwhile, China signed off with seven gold from their 14 medals at the Turkish International, the first tournament in the race to the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Qualification points.
The promising Qu Zimao had picked up three gold there.
On Sunday at the Fazza meet, it was once again Zimao who finished with two gold medals in men's singles WH1 and mixed doubles WH1-WH2 along with Liu Yutong.
The road to Tokyo 2020 Paralympics continues, with the next stop for the players going to be Uganda from April 22-28, 2019.