My focus is on winning gold at Paralympics: Para-shuttler Pramod Bhagat after receiving invitation from BWF

New Delhi, June 8: Three Indian para shuttlers, including world number one Pramod Bhagat, on Tuesday (June 8) officially qualified for the Paralympics, scheduled to be held from August 25 to September 5.

Besides Bhagat (SL3 -- standing/lower limb impairment/minor), Tarun Tarun (SL4 -- standing/ lower limb impairment/severe) and Krishna Nagar (SH6 -- standing/short stature) too received invitations to participate in the Paralympics.

SL3 refers to minor standing or lower limb impairment and SL4 means severe lower limb impairment. While SH6 refers standing/short stature). Bhagat, who had claimed two gold medals and a bronze at the recently-concluded Dubai Para Tournament, was on cloud nine after receiving the invitation from the game's governing body, Badminton World Federation.

"I am very excited to be invited, every athlete dreams of participating in the Olympics and it is the same for me," Bhagat said. "I am very focused and winning a gold at the Paralympics is my dream and I have been training very hard to achieve this."

Sukant Kadam, Manoj Sarkar and few other prominent players are expecting their invitations through Bipartite to come on July 16. The Indian women's pair of Palak Kohli and Parul Parmar last month became the first from the country to receive the invitations for the Tokyo Paralympics. This is the first time badminton is being introduced in the Paralympics.