From train accident to Paris Paralympics final, Nitesh Kumar engineers path to brink of glory

Nitesh Kumar, the highly skilled towering shuttler from Haryana, downed Japan’s Fujihara Daisuke 21-16, 21-12 in the semifinals at the Chapelle Arena. (Screengrab via Paralympics)

Nitesh came into the sport with a helpful build beyond his left leg amputation, but also a reputation in Para circles for playing fancy badminton, and flashy strokes. One of the most strokeful players, his overflowing talent needed direction. Gopichand would assign three of his top coaches to rotate in surprise sessions. “He has good height, and everything in defence, attack and strokes is good,” explains coach Rajendra Kumar. “But we shuffled his sessions, to add variations of three different playing styles so he would get used to different players,” he said. (READ MORE)