India’s para badminton star Pramod Bhagat said winning a record sixth singles gold at the BWF Para World Championships was especially meaningful as it helped him surpass his idol Lin Dan’s five world titles. Pramod Bhagat described his sixth men’s singles gold medal in the SL3 category as the most satisfying achievement of his career
India’s Pramod Bhagat at the BWF World Para Championships in Manama, Bahrain, recently; (right) Lin Dan
India para shuttler Pramod Bhagat, who clinched two gold medals at the BWF Para World Championships in Manama, Bahrain, recently, has revealed that winning a record sixth singles gold in the SL3 category holds a lot more value to him than the men’s doubles gold he won alongside Sukant Kadam in the SL3-SL4 category.
He doesn’t mean to undervalue doubles in any way, but there’s a special reason why he treasures this sixth gold. “This singles gold medal is definitely the most satisfying for me because I surpassed my idol Lin Dan, who won five World Championship gold medals during his stellar career. He’s a legend,” Bhagat told mid-day on Tuesday.
Bhagat, 37, who started his career in 2006, defeated Indonesia’s Muhammad Al Imran 21–12, 21–18 in the final to become the world’s most decorated men’s singles world champion in badminton history with six titles to his name, surpassing Dan with five. In doubles, Bhagat and Sukant overcame fellow Indians J Dilli and N Sivakumar 21-19, 21-16 to clinch the title.
However, Bhagat, a 2020 Tokyo Paralympics gold medallist, revealed that the record isn’t the only reason it holds so much value. The World No. 2 shuttler served an 18-month ban till September 2025 for breaching anti-doping regulations (whereabouts failure). “When you’re out for one-and-a-half year, a lot of difficulties arise. This World Championships medal is very close to me because I came back after a long break. I trained hard under 2004 Olympian Nikhil Kanetkar and his team in Pune. We put in a lot of work and it’s his guidance that has helped me win this [singles] medal. Compared to all my previous medals, this one was the most difficult and challenging,” Bhagat signed off.
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