The gold had to stay in India – that was the tacit promise Nitesh Kumar had made Pramod Bhagat when he left for France.
It’s why after Nitesh won India’s second Paralympics title at Paris, the first in badminton of 2024, defending the Standing / Lower limb (SL3 category) gold, his first call was placed to 2021 Games champion Bhagat, who was serving a whereabouts suspension back home. “Immediately after winning, I called him and said, ‘More than me winning gold, it was important that we keep the SL3 title in India,” Nitesh said, of establishing an Indian dynasty in this hugely contested classification.
Britisher Daniel Bethell, who lost his second successive Paralympics final to an Indian, would’ve been distraught, after holding a championship point. But Nitesh had completely altered his game-style for the final, bitten back on the flashy dazzle of strokes and pushed Bethell into a corner of impatience. Knowing Bhagat’s hard-earned gold needed doughty defending, he would rather play dour for 80 minutes than blink.
“It’s funny because the first person in my life who ever told me that I have good badminton strokes was Pramod bhaiyya in 2016 right after we met,” Nitesh recalls.
Nitesh, always well built and fit, grew up in a Haryana village, as a prodigious footballer with loping strides and great dribbling skills. “Football for us wasn’t about watching European leagues on TV but playing it at school. I also played volleyball and basketball and TT,” he recalls, of acing studies and sports both, looking forward to a bright future. Then tragedy struck, and he lost a leg to a train accident soon after he had cracked IIT Mandi and started on electrical engineering.
“I won’t call it a bad memory. I moved on, even if not quickly. It happened and I was in shock not knowing what to do with life, and out of ideas. But my father insisted all wasn’t lost. Then when I saw others at Artificial Limb Centre and what all they are capable of, I resurrected my dream,” Nitesh recalls.
Badminton had started for recreation, because his University had a rather fetching wooden court. “After the accident when I got into Pata sports, I was surrounded by multiple national and world champions in SL3. I guess that’s what they mean by sports culture of excellence. I surprisingly got along straight away with Pramod bhaiyya who was world Champion. I thought maybe as ‘star player’ he won’t even notice me. But he walked up to me and told me I have good strokes,” Nitesh says.
Studying to crack IIT demanded sacrifices of its own and solitude, but preparing for Paralympics was another set of challenges. “That was the time of Virat Kohli’s peak. And I was impressed with his dedication to top fitness, and how his diet, schedule was aimed towards that. His self belief was an inspiration in how no sacrifice is too big to chase winning,” he says.
When Bhagat was sidelined with the suspension, India still had a bunch of shuttlers in SL3, but Bethell had looked primed to trap his elusive gold. Nitesh had played all his matches at Paris on corner courts, but knew when dropped into the spotlight, against a pumped up Bethell, he needed something special: in his case eschewing all attack, and defending solidly including in 100+ shot rallies.
“First set, I usually don’t play so patiently. My playing style is very different. I usually trust my strokes, which are deceptive and have variety, instead of playing long rallies. But in those first 3-4 points, I saw there was drift and Daniel was far too desperate and I shouldn’t play too many strokes. Shuttle and venue were tricky so I decided to continue playing with a plain racquet. In between I did a few variations. Few worked for me, few didn’t work,” he says.
Midway through the second, Nitesh knew he was struggling to send the shuttle back due to court drift, and getting caught at the net where Bethell charged. “I lost my nerve and got too eager. I’d lost similarly at the Asiad finals. I didn’t want to make that mistake again. 19-20 down in decider also I told myself the game is not over. I should fight for this point. I’ve come this long that I don’t want to lose from the brink. I just told myself I’m sticking it out there and I’ll make him earn this point. But I won the point quickly,” as Bethell sent the shuttle long.
Ultimately, it was that heavy responsibility of the gold that kept him from imploding and giving it all away. “Even when I won the first set, I didn’t assume I’m winning today. Until it happened I didn’t want to have that feeling,” he recalls. It hadn’t sunk in till he heard Bhagat tell him he was proud of him. The gold would stay in India.
