Home player Li Mingpan won two titles from three finals to emerge one of the stars of the China Para Badminton International 2025.
On the way to the Standing Upper (SU5) gold medal, the 23-year-old inflicted a rare defeat upon Paralympic champion Cheah Liek Hou. Li beat Cheah 25-23 9-21 21-14 in the semifinals before overcoming France’s Meril Loquette 21-10 21-18.
Li also won the mixed doubles SL3-SU5 gold with Zhou Zhihui. In an exciting all-China final, they beat Yang Jianyuan/Yang Qiuxia 21-16 13-21 25-23.
Li’s third final was the men’s doubles SU5 final, where he and He Zhirui faced Cheah Liek Hou and India’s Ruthick Ragupathi. The Malaysia-India combination overcame the home pair 21-14 20-22 21-16.
China were the most dominant team, winning 11 gold medals out of the 20 on offer. Paralympic champions Qu Zimo and Liu Yu Tong were once again on song, winning all three of their Wheelchair (WH) events, including the mixed doubles in which they paired up.
The mixed doubles WH1-WH2 final saw Qu and Liu overwhelm compatriots Wu Xincheng/Fan Chaoyue 21-7 21-6.
Nithya Sre Sumathy Sivan
India returned with four gold medals. Tokyo 2020 Paralympic champion Pramod Bhagat, who last played internationally in February 2024, celebrated his return to the circuit by winning the Standing Lower (SL3) men’s singles over Indonesia’s Muh Al Imran 15-21 21-19 21-16.
India’s other gold medallists were Nithya Sre Sumathy Sivan (women’s singles Short Stature SH6), and Jagdish Dilli and Naveen Sivakumar (Men’s Doubles SL3-SL4), besides Ruthick Raghupathi, who won gold in partnership with Cheah Liek Hou.
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