Asian Para-Badminton C'ships: Manasi Joshi stuns Paralympic champion Xiao
The victory in final group match takes Manasi to the quarterfinals.
Star para-shuttler Manasi Joshi stunned the Paris Paralympics champion at the Asian Championships 2025. (Photo credit: Manasi Joshi/X)
Indian ace Manasi Joshi stunned the Paris Paralympic champion Xiao Zuxian in the final group stage match of the Asian Para-Badminton Championships in Korat, Thailand, on Thursday.
Manasi, playing in the SL3 category, comprising players with lower limb impairments, has now booked her place in the quarterfinals courtesy of the positive result in what was a must-win encounter.
Manasi came from behind to topple Xiao in a tight three-game (16-21, 21-15, 21-14) encounter and finished second in Group C with two out of three wins in the women's singles discipline.
A compose fight-back
Earlier, Manasi had a horrific start, losing her second group stage match to much lower-ranked Bini Mat Lawani of Malaysia in three games. Thereafter, a group stage exit looked inevitable for the Indian.
To avoid an early elimination, she needed to win her final group match against Xiao, which she had been unable to pull off in their last four meetings. However, she held her composure and achieved this daunting task.
This was Manasi's first international tournament since the Paris Paralympic Games, and now with this late survival, she will be aiming to step on the podium, a finish that she failed to achieve in Paris 2024.
The knockout stage will commence on Friday. Incidentally, the pre-quarterfinal and quarterfinal matches will have multiple Indians in the fray, including the Paralympic Champion Nitesh Kumar in men's singles SL3.
The other top names who will be in action for India on Friday are Paris Paralympic Bronze medalist Nithya Sre Sivan and Tokyo Paralympic champion Krishna Nagar in their respective SH6 singles discipline.
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