J Jerlin Anika, India won three gold medals, dominated the Deaflympics 2022 badminton podium, and made the country proud. Eight members Indian Badminton squad includes Jerlin Anika, Tamilnadu and Abhinav Sharma, Rajasthan represents India in the 24th Summer Deaflympics 2022 held at Caxias do Sul, Brazil from 1st May 2022 to 15th May 2022.
Team India won Gold in the Mixed Team event by beating Japan by 4-1. Jerlin Anika represented in Women's Singles and Women's doubles and she won all the 10 matches played for the team. Abhinav Sharma, Shreya Singla, and Aaditya Yadav supported her by winning 6 matches and 3 matches each respectively.
In individual events, India's Jerlin Anika and Abhinav Sharma mixed doubles pair entered the finals without losing a single game in their knockouts and registered a victory against Malaysian pair Keong Teo and Wei Ying Boon by 21-14, 21-07 to bag the Mixed Doubles Gold.
In a similar style, Jerlin stormed into the finals of the Women's singles and crushed Katrin Neudolt of Austria in straights 21-17, 21-18 for another Gold medal.
On the final medal day of the Deaflympics, she had played two semis and two finals for a total duriation of 1 hr 30 minutes and her fitness & condition were well suited for the tight day.
On 11th day of the Deaflympics 2022, India is in the 8th position in the medal table with 6 gold medals and 3 Bronze medals which includes 3 gold and 1 bronze medals from badminton. Despite the worse war situation, Ukraine Deaflympics athletes top in the medal tally with 103 medals.
Abhinav Sharma added a Bronze medal to the tally by winning the Men's Singles Bronze medal match against Ignas Reznikas, Lithuania by 21-16, 21-06.
J Jerlin Anika brought laurels to the country by winning gold at the second world deaf youth championship held in Taipei, 2019 and she won two silvers and a bronze in the Asia Pacific Deaf Badminton Championships held in Malaysia, 2018. Jerlin’s coach, Madurai T Saravanan, Tamilnadu said that her performance is consistent after her major victories at Asia Pacific Deaf Badminton Championships, Malaysia in 2018 and she is the national champion among the women hearing impaired badminton players of the country. "Normal players would be able to judge the speed of a shot through the sound the shuttle makes when it hits the racket. But, Jerlin had used it to her advantage by not getting distracted by other noises", her coach added.
"She practices for at least eight hours a day. Whenever she loses a crucial match, she breaks down after the match. Once she is settled, she focuses on the next match and works hard,” says her mother, J. Leema Rosaline.
It has not been an easy journey for Jerlin. “Initially when she started playing for the normal category, she lost a considerable number of matches. The umpire would shout out the points and Jerlin would not be aware of it,” says her father Mr. Jeya Ratchagan.
Men's and Women's Badminton Players representing India in Singles, Doubles, Mixed Doubles, and Team events are given.
Men's Team
ABHINAV SHARMA, RAJ,
ROHIT BHAKER, HAR,
HRITIK ANAND, BAH,
MAHESH, HAR
Women's Team
J. JERLIN ANIKA, TN,
SHREYA SINGLA, PUJ,
AADITYA YADAV, UP,
GAURANSHI SHARMA, MP
Watch the Mixed Team Gold Medal Matches India Vs Japan, Deaflympics 2022
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