Tokyo:India's Pramod Bhagat on Saturday clinched historic badminton gold medal in men's singles SL3 class after beating Great Britain's Daniel Bethell in the thrilling final at the Tokyo Paralympics.
Badminton made its debut at the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics and Bhagat became the first Indian to win a gold medal in the sport.
World No 1 Pramod showed great composure and defeated Bethell 21-14,21-17 to win the final that lasted 45 minutes at the Yoyogi National Stadium in Tokyo.
The 33-year-old Indian is also in contention for a bronze medal in mixed doubles SL3-SU5 class, where he and his partner Palak Kohli will face Japanese pair of Daisuke Fujihara and Akiko Sugino in the play off on Sunday.
Meanwhile, another Indian shuttler Manoj Sarkar won the bronze medal after beating Japan's Daisuke Fujihara 22-20,21-13 in the in the play-off match.
The gold and bronze from the shuttlers took India's medal tally to 17 - 3 gold, 7 silver and 5 bronze at the ongoing Tokyo Paralympics.(UNI)