National Para-Badminton C'ship: Tokyo gold medallist Pramod Bhagat relishes homecoming in Odisha

Pramod Bhagat, India's first-ever badminton gold medalist at the Paralympics, is relishing the "new experience" of playing in front of his home crowd in the ongoing Para-Badminton National championship here in Bhubaneswar.

Pramod Bhagat on Saturday kicked off his campaign with a straight-sets (21-12, 21-18) win over Chandra Prakash. Having played across the world in different tournaments, it was a new experience for the local boy, who competed in the men's singles SL3 category here at the Railway Indoor Stadium.

"Feels nice to be back home and playing, this is my first match on my home ground in Odisha. This was a new experience, I had played across the world but it was something different when I walked out to play today in front of my local crowd," Pramod toldafter his win in the first match here.

The Tokyo Games gold medallist made a walk in the park during the first set but had to face a tough fight in the second essay. However, Pramod cited that he was just trying to get into the groove since it was his first match in the tournament.

"I was just getting into the groove hence in that process I lost some points and also since it was my first match here in the tournament, I was getting a hang of it," said Pramod.

"But then I got the momentum in the second half of the second set to make sure I win the game," he added.

Tokyo Paralympics bronze medallist Manoj Sarkar also won his first game in the men's singles SL3 category on Saturday. The duo will now be in action in the pre-quarter-finals of the ongoing Para-Badminton National Championship later in the day.

( With inputs from ANI )