Manama, February 14 India's Pramod Bhagat won the men's SL3 gold medal with a dominant straight-game victory over Indonesia's Muhammad Al Imran at the BWF Para World Championships here on Saturday.
The 37-year-old Bhagat dominated his opponent 21-12, 21-18 in the final to claim his fourth consecutive singles gold at the world championships and his sixth overall world title in the category.
This victory highlights Bhagat's sustained dominance in the SL3 division, which refers to a classification for standing players with significant lower limb impairment.
Bhagat, who contracted polio when he was five, had previously won world championship singles gold medals in 2009, 2015, 2019, 2022, and 2024.
Following Saturday's win, he surpassed China's legendary Lin Dan, who won five men's singles world titles in able-bodied badminton, making Bhagat the most decorated singles champion in the sport's world championship history.
This triumph also marked a significant redemption for Bhagat, who served an 18-month suspension for violating the Badminton World Federation (BWF) anti-doping whereabouts clause, which forced him to miss the 2024 Paris Paralympics.
Bhagat later teamed up with Sukant Kadam to win the men's doubles SL3-SL4 title, defeating fellow Indians J. Dilli and N. Sivakumar 21-19, 21-16 in the final. The top-seeded Indian pair controlled key moments of the final match to complete Bhagat's golden double.
In other results, N. Sivakumar finished second in the men's singles SL4 category after losing to top seed Lucas Mazur of France 12-21, 21-19, 14-21 in the final.
India's M. Ramadass, the top seed in women's singles SU5, settled for silver after losing to China's Yang Qiu Xia 11-21, 11-21 in the title clash.
Top seed N. Sumathy Sivan also finished second in the women's singles SH6 category after losing to China's Li Feng 14-21, 21-12, 17-21 in a hard-fought three-game final.