Reigning world champion Bhagat beat Bethell 21-14 21-17 within the summit conflict. Another Indian, Manoj Kumar received the bronze after beating Daisuke Fujihara within the third place play-off.
With badminton making its debut on the Paralympics this 12 months, Bhagat, the present world No. 1, thus turned the primary Indian to win a gold medal within the sport.
“This is a very proud moment for me. I’m representing the Indian badminton community and India as a whole,” Bhagat stated after profitable the gold.
“This is the first time that para badminton is appearing in the Paralympics and winning the first gold medal for India is a moment to cherish for me,” stated 33-year-old from Odisha.
Bhagat, who had contracted polio when he was 4 years previous, thus avenged his loss to Bethell on the Japan Para Badminton International in November 2019.
“I performed the identical opponent in Japan two years in the past and I misplaced. That was a studying alternative for me.
“Today it was the same stadium and the same environment, and I devised a strategy to win. I was very determined.”
On his technique, Bhagat stated, “I just focused on playing the shuttle on each and every point rather than on winning the whole game. Every point was precious.”
Bhagat additionally stays in competition for a bronze medal in combined doubles SL3-SU5 class. He and his associate Palak Kohli will sq. off towards Japanese pair of Daisuke Fujihara and Akiko Sugino within the bronze medal play off on Sunday.
They had misplaced the semifinals 3-21 15-21 to Indonesian mixture of Hary Susanto and Leani Ratri Oktila earlier within the day.
Bhagat picked up the sports activities after watching his neighbours play. Initially, he competed towards able-bodied gamers earlier than moving into aggressive para badminton in 2006.
He ultimately emerged as probably the greatest para shuttlers within the nation with 45 worldwide medals underneath his belt, together with 4 world championship gold medals and a gold and a bronze in 2018 Asian Para Games.
He additionally had began his profession as a badminton coach however took a break in 2019 to deal with Tokyo Paralympics qualification.
In 2019, he obtained the Arjuna Award and Biju Patnaik Award for Excellence in Sports in India.