Nitesh Kumar (born 30 December 1994) is an Indian

para-badminton Para-badminton is a variant of badminton for athletes with a range of physical disabilities. Badminton World Federation (BWF) is the main governing body for para-badminton starting from June 2011. The sport was governed by Para Badminton World Fed ...

player. He won a gold at the 2024 Paris Paralympics in the men's singles SL3 category. He is a two-time silver and one-time bronze medalist at the

World Championships A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game ...

. Kumar has won one gold, one silver and two bronze medals at the

Asian Para Games The Asian Para Games, also known as Para Asiad, is a multi-sport event regulated by the Asian Paralympic Committee that's held every four years after every Asian Games for athletes with physical disabilities. Both events had adopted the strat ...

over the years.

Early life and education

Kumar was born on 30 December 1994 in Bas Kirtan,

Rajasthan Rajasthan (; Literal translation, lit. 'Land of Kings') is a States and union territories of India, state in northwestern India. It covers or 10.4 per cent of India's total geographical area. It is the List of states and union territories of ...

. In 2009, he lost his left leg in a train accident in

Visakhapatnam Visakhapatnam (; List of renamed places in India, formerly known as Vizagapatam, and also referred to as Vizag, Visakha, and Waltair) is the largest and most populous metropolitan city in the States and union territories of India, Indian stat ...

Andhra Pradesh Andhra Pradesh (ISO 15919, ISO: , , AP) is a States and union territories of India, state on the East Coast of India, east coast of southern India. It is the List of states and union territories of India by area, seventh-largest state and th ...

. After bed ridden for many months, he prepared for IIT entrance exam for over a year and joined Indian Institute of Technology, Mandi in 2014. He started playing badminton at IIT and in 2016 represented the Haryana team at the Para National Championships. He resides at Karnal, Haryana and is supported by sports NGO,

Olympic Gold Quest OGQ is a program of the Foundation for Promotion of Sports and Games, a non profit (Section 8) company, which sponsors Indian Olympic athletes and Paralympic/ Disabled athletes. OGQ aims to create a level playing field for Indian athletes to e ...

Career

He made his international debut in 2016. In 2017, he won his first title at the Irish Para-Badminton International. Later, he took part and won matches at BWF Para Badminton World Circuit and won a gold medal at the 2022 Asian Para Games at Hangzhou, China. He became the world number 3 in the SL3 category on 14 June 2022.

Coaching career

In 2019, he started working as Senior Badminton Coach at the Department of Sports and Youth Affairs, Haryana.

Achievements

Paralympic Games

''Men's singles SL3''

World Championships

''Men's singles'' ''Men's doubles''

Asian Para Games

''Men's singles'' ''Men's doubles'' ''Mixed doubles''

BWF Para Badminton World Circuit (12 titles, 11 runners-up)

The BWF Para Badminton World Circuit – Grade 2, Level 1, 2 and 3 tournaments has been sanctioned by the Badminton World Federation from 2022. ''Men's singles'' ''Men's doubles'' ''Mixed doubles''

International Tournaments (7 runners-up)

''Men's singles'' ''Men's doubles''

References

External links

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Kumar Nitesh
at the

Paris 2024 Summer Paralympics The 2024 Summer Paralympics (), also known as the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games (), and branded as Paris 2024, were the 17th Summer Paralympic Games, an international Multi-sport event, multi-sport parasports event governed by the International P ...

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Kumar, Nitesh 1994 births Living people IIT Mandi Indian male badminton players 21st-century Indian sportsmen Indian male para-badminton players Paralympic badminton players for India Paralympic gold medalists for India Paralympic medalists in badminton Badminton players at the 2024 Summer Paralympics Medalists at the 2024 Summer Paralympics Asian Para Games medalists in badminton Asian Para Games gold medalists for India Asian Para Games silver medalists for India Asian Para Games bronze medalists for India Medalists at the 2018 Asian Para Games Medalists at the 2022 Asian Para Games Recipients of the Arjuna Award