India’s Naveen Sivakumar staged a thrilling comeback in the SL4 men’s singles final of the POLYTRON Indonesia Para Badminton International 2025, inflicting a rare defeat on two-time Paralympic champion Lucas Mazur on Sunday.
On Sunday, the Tokyo 2020 and Paris 2024 Paralympic champion appeared on course for another win when he took the opening game 21-17 and had three opportunities to take the title at 20-18 and 21-20. However, Sivakumar forced a decider and cruised after four-all to take the title 17-21 23-21 21-12.
Sivakumar’s only other singles title this year had come in March at the Spanish Para Badminton International.
Sivakumar’s title was the highlight of a successful campaign for the Indian team, which picked up six gold and six silver medals. Apart from Sivakumar, the other winners were: Manisha Ramadass (SU5 women’s singles), Nithya Sre Sumathy Sivan (SH6 women’s singles), Kumar Nitesh (SL3 men’s singles), Pramod Bhagat/Sukant Kadam (SL3-SL4 men’s doubles) and Ruthick Ragupathi (SU5 men’s doubles with Malaysia’s Cheah Liek Hou).
Malaysia’s Muhammad Ikhwan Ramli and Indonesia’s Leani Ratri Oktila emerged the most successful players of the tournament with a triple crown each.
Ramli won the WH1 men’s singles title beating India’s Shashank Kumar 21-15 21-16 and then swept the men’s doubles (WH1-WH2) and mixed doubles (WH1-WH2) as well. In men’s doubles, Ramli partnered Noor Azwan Noorlan to a 21-18 21-18 victory over India’s Prem Kumar Ale/Abu Hubaida, while in mixed doubles, Ramli partnered Peru’s Pilar Jaurequi, beating Ale and Alphia James 21-9 21-6.
Ramli and Jaurequi strike a winning pose.
Oktila won the SL4 singles, women’s doubles (SL3-SU5) with Khalimatus Sadiyah, and the mixed doubles (SL3-SU5) with Hikmat Ramdani, helping hosts Indonesia win five gold medals overall. The other winners for Indonesia were Qonitah Ikhtiar Syakuroh (SL3 women’s singles) and Subhan Subhan/Rina Marlina (SH6 mixed doubles).
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