Double delight for Ramesh Shanguman as Tamil Nadu athletes make strong start

In badminton, Sanjeev Kumar beat first seed Manjunatha Chikkaiah, causing first major upset of the tournament

Rakesh Thapliyal

New Delhi: Tamil Nadu’s Ramesh Shanguman shone brightly on the second day of the Khelo India Para Games 2025 winning two gold medals in the Men’s 800m T53/T54 and Men’s 100m T53/T54 events respectively.

By the end of the day, 44 gold medals had been decided and Tamil Nadu had won 9 of them. Haryana stood second with 7 medals while Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh followed with 5 medals each.

Hailing from a farming family in Mannathampatty village, Tiruchirappalli, Shanguman was struck by tragedy when he lost his legs in a lorry accident at the age of eight. However, he did not let the setback hold him back and took to sports. He started as a para basketball player but then shifted to wheelchair racing.

Speaking about his victory at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, Shanguman said, “I have faced a lot of struggles in my life. I need to achieve something. Every day just comes and goes. But I had the desire to make a name for myself. I have to prove myself. I motivate myself every day. Now my parents are very happy. In the first KIPG in 2023, I won the bronze medal, this time I won the gold medal. My family is a big support. Without them, I could not have been a medallist.”

It was Day 2 in the para badminton competition at the Indira Gandhi Stadium. Friday saw some exciting encounters with the likes of Paris Paralympian Nitesh Kumar and Tokyo Paralympics Gold medallist Krishna Nagar showing their dominance. On the other hand, Sanjeev Kumar stunned everybody by causing the first upset of the Khelo India Para Games 2025 as he beat the first seed Manjunatha Chikkaiah by 21-13, 21-6 in the quarter-final.

Paris 2024 gold medallist Nitesh Kumar made the finals in his category while Krishna Nagar entered the semifinals. Nithya Sre and Palal Kohli, the other top names in the badminton competition, also advanced in their respective sections.

Brief Results

 

ATHLETICS

Men’s Discus Throw F11

Gold – Monu Ghangas (Haryana); Silver – Sagar (Haryana); Bronze – Praveen Sharma (Rajasthan)

Men’s Shot Put F40/F41

Gold – Ravi Rongali (Andhra Pradesh); Silver – Abhishek (Haryana); Bronze – Manoj Singaraja (Tamil Nadu)

Men’s 100m Run T13

Gold – Chaitanya Vijay Pathak (Maharashtra); Silver – Meet Tadhani (Gujarat); Bronze – Kalaram Patel (Chhattisgarh)

Men’s 100m Run T35 FINALS

Gold – Vipin (Uttar Pradesh); Silver – Jatin Singh (Delhi); Bronze – Ravi Kumar (Uttar Pradesh)

Men’s 100m Run T36

Gold – Chirag (Delhi); Silver Arpit Sharma (Madhya Pradesh); Bronze – Haryana.

WOMEN Shot Put F53/F54

Gold – Keerthika Jayachandran (Tamil Nadu); Silver – Kanchan Lakhani (Haryana); Bronze – Geetha Kannan (Tamil Nadu)

Men’s 800 m T53/T54

Gold – Ramesh Shanmugam (Tamil Nadu); Silver – Manikandan Jothi (Tamil Nadu); Bronze – Shailesh Kumar (Tamil Nadu)

Men’s Shot Put F40/F41

Gold – Ravi Rongali (Andhra Pradesh); Silver – Abhishek (Haryana); Bronze – Manoj Singaraja (Tamil Nadu)

Men’s Shot Put F54

Gold – Sahil Salim Sayyad (Maharashtra); Silver – Imran Rasool (Tamil Nadu); Bronze – Abhishek Chamoli (Delhi)

Women’s Shot Put F53/F54

Gold – Keerthika Jayachandran (Tamil Nadu); Silver – Kanchan Lakhani (Haryana); Bronze – Geetha Kannan (Tamil Nadu)

Men’s Discus Throw F11

Gold – Monu Ghangas (Haryana); Silver – Sagar (Haryana); Bronze – Praveen Sharma (Rajasthan)

Men’s 100m T13

Gold – Chaitanya Vijay Pathak (Maharashtra); Silver – Meet Tadhani (Gujarat); Bronze – Kalaram Patel (Chhattisgarh)

Men’s 100m T35 FINALS

Gold – Vipin (Uttar Pradesh); Silver – Jatin Singh (Delhi); Bronze – Ravi Kumar (Uttar Pradesh)

Men’s 100m T36

Gold – Chirag (Delhi); Silver Arpit Sharma (Madhya Pradesh); Bronze – Haryana

Women’s Shot Put F42/F44/F64:

Gold – Nividitha D H (Karnataka); Silver – Jeewani (Rajasthan); Bronze – Suman (Rajasthan)

Women’s Shot Put F56

Gold – Siddhi Vikas Kshirsagar (Maharashtra); Silver – Minakshi Harich Jadhav (Maharashtra); Lizzy Velu (Tamil Nadu)

Men’s 100m T37

Gold – Rakesh Bhatt (Gujarat); Silver – Navdeep (Haryana); Bronze – Dhawan (Delhi)

Men’s 100m T38

Gold – Jeeva Muthuraj (Tamil Nadu); Silver – Anandharaj Murugan (Tamil Nadu); Sharwan Kumar (Rajasthan)

Men’s 100m Run T44

Gold – Sandeep (Haryana); Silver – Mit Patel (Gujarat); Bronze – Ranjeet Kumar (Delhi)

Men’s Discus Throw F44/F64

Gold – Shubham Dhull (Haryana); Kartik Chahal (Uttar Pradesh); Rakesh (Haryana)

Men’s 100 m T53/T54

Gold – Ramesh Shanmugam (Tamil Nadu); Silver – Anil Kumar (Haryana); Bronze – Shailesh Kumar (Bihar)

Women’s Discuss Throw F11

Gold – Nidhi Mishra (Delhi); Silver – Tamanna Sharma (Haryana); Bronze – Komal Tyagi (Madhya Pradesh)

Men’s 100m Run T42

Gold – Vivek Sharma (Punjab); Silver – Sandeep Kumar (Uttar Pradesh); Bronze – Jagdish Singh Shahi (Uttarakhand)

Men’s 100m Run T64

Gold – Pranav Prashant Desai (Maharashtra); Silver – Rajvir Singh (Himachal Pradesh); Bronze – Rajesh Kumar (Tamil Nadu)

Men’s Shot Put F35

Gold – Prasanth Soundervel (Tamil Nadu); Silver – Pradip Gamit (Gujarat); Bronze – Sumit Kumar (Haryana)

Women’s 100m Run T11

Gold – Ravanni Valasanaini (Andhra Pradesh); Silver – Shirisha Govu (Telangana); Bronze – Shweta Kumari (Delhi)

Men’s Shot Put F55

Gold – Muthuraja Karaiyalan (Tamil Nadu); Silver – Harveer Singh (Uttar Pradesh); Bronze – Anmol Vashistha (Uttar Pradesh)

Women’s 100 m T35/T36/T37/T38

Gold – Bina Mordiya (Gujarat); Silver – Avani (Haryana); Bronze – Babanpreet Kaur (Chandigarh)

Women’s 100 m T53/T54

Gold – Kiran Shriram Metkar (Tamil Nadu); Silver – Kalaiselvi Elango (Tamil Nadu); Bronze – Geeta Panalal Chouhan (Maharashtra)

Women’s 100m Run T47

Gold – Jayanti Behera (Odisha); Silver – Bhavani Valasamgari (Andhra Pradesh); Bronze – Nishu (Punjab)

Women’s Discus Throw F37/F38

Gold – Lakshmi (Haryana); Silver – Priyanka (Rajasthan); Bronze – Varshaben Chaudhary (Gujarat)

Women’s 100m Run T44

Gold – Ritika Pal (Uttar Pradesh); Silver – Bhavani K Munniyandi (Andaman & Nicobar); Bronze – Nirmala (Rajasthan)

Women’s 100m Run T42

Gold -Sobhagya Shree (Rajasthan); Silver – Pinki Kumari (Rajasthan); Bronze – Pooja (Haryana)

Women’s Discus Throw F40

Gold – Akutai Sitaram Ulbhagat (Maharashtra); Silver – Choti Mehra (Chhattisgarh); Bronze – Pandi Meena Sonaimuthu (Tamil Nadu)

Men’s 100m Run T12

Gold – Abhishek C (Karnataka); Silver – Chirag Tyagi (Uttar Pradesh); Bronze – Sujith MS (Delhi)

Men’s 100m Run T11

Gold – Pragadeeshwara Raja (Tamil Nadu); Swaraj Ambati (Andhra Pradesh); Raman Jee (Delhi)

Women’s 100 m T12/T13

Gold – Sakshi Kale (Goa); Silver – Janaki Oram (Odisha); Bronze – Sidra Muskan (Delhi)

Men’s Discus Throw F11

Sanjeev Kumar defeated Manjunatha Chikkaiah 21-13, 21-6 in quarterfinal in MS WH 2.

BADMINTON

Krishna Nagar defeated Mahesh 21-3, 21-6 in quarter final stage in MS SH 6

Mandeep Kaur defeated Sanjana Kumari 21-12, 21-18 in the semi-final in WS SL 3

Arati Janoba Patil defeated Latika 21-17, 21-12 in the semi-final in WS SU 5

Palak Kohli won against Shivangi Pandey 21-1, 21-2 in the semi-final in WS SL 4

Nithya Sre Sumathy Sivan defeated Latatai Parmeshwar Umrekar 21-6, 21-4 in the semi-final in WS SH6

Nitesh Kumar defeated Umesh Vikram Kumar 21-9, 21-14 in semi-final in MS SL 3