Patna: Pramod Bhagat, a blanket with the roots in Bihar, brought victory to this country by winning a gold medal at Singles SL3 badminton in Tokyo Paralympics on Saturday.
Bhagat is Hajipur’s native in the Vaishali district but now settled in Bhubaneswar in Odisha.
“This is a proud moment for India.
He is the second person from Bihar to get a medal in Paralympics.
Before Pramod, Sharad Kumar grabbed a bronze on a male high leap.
Both players have number one world number one and have made us all very proud,” Shivajee Kumar, the founding member of the Indian Paralympics Committee, told Tokyo.
Shivajee represents India as an official in Paralympics.
Even though Pramod has roots in Hajpiur, most of his family members have shifted to Odisha and settled there.
“We have our roots in Hajipur.
In fact, one of our sisters, Chandan Devi, was married and settled there,” said the younger brother of Pramod Shekhar Bhagat told Toi from Odisha by telephone.
Given the pramod trip, Shekhar said, “At the age of five, polio crashed him.
But he continued to pursue his dream and start playing badminton at the age of 12 years.
For the first time, he represents Odisha in a citizen of 2006.
That’s when our father died.
However , Pramod continues to survive.
“Unfortunately, his mother Kusum Devi also died of Covid-19 at the hospital in Patna in 2020.
Shivajee asked the Bihar government to provide pramod and share of officer work in the government.
“They deserve this and the state government must help sportsman like that,” Shivajee said.