Thulasimathi Murugesan pens history in Paris Paralympics 2024 with a silver medal in Women’s Singles Badminton SU5

Thulasimathi Murugesan penned history on Monday by becoming the first Indian women para-shuttler to clinch a medal in the Paralympics 2024. Despite a defeat against China’s Qiu Xia Yang in the final of the women’s singles SU5 event, Murugesan did put up a fight.

In a contest that lasted for half an hour, Murugesan went down battling by 17-21 and 10-21 in two straight sets against the Chinese shuttler. The 22-year-old shuttler won both of her group stage matches to enter the semi-finals.

She defeated Rosa de Marco of Italy in her opening fixture by 21-9 and 21-11 before seizing her second win of the latest iteration of the Para Games at the expense of Portuguese Beateriz Monteiro by 21-12, 21-8.

It was an all-Indian semi-final between her and Manisha Ramadass (she won the bronze) that saw Murugesan prevailing over her counterpart by 23-21 and 23-17. Sadly enough, the final didn’t really pan out in her favour, despite her putting in the best of efforts.