Badminton Player Shreya Singla Wins Gold At Deaflypmics 2022, Creates History

Shreya Singla made India proud by winning the gold medal in badminton at the Deaf Olympics, also known as Deaflympics. The player from Bathinda becomes the first girl from her state to achieve this milestone.

The 24th Deaflympics held in Caxias do Sul, Brazil ended on a great note for India as 17-year-old Bathinda, Punjab player Shreya won big in the badminton finals. The tournament commenced on May 1 and concluded on May 15, 2022, and consisted of various events including athletics, basketball, handball, judo, golf, swimming and many others. The events included participants from 72 nations and a total of 2401 athletes took part in the events.

Shreya Singla Creates History By Winning Gold In The 24th Deaflympics

Shreya received her training from Shining Star Academy in Bahadurgarh. She left on April 27 for Brazil to take part in a badminton event and was one of the five Indian players who participated in the event. Her matches were held from May 2 to May 4 and she won the finals against Japan. This was another accomplishment in the 17-year-old's sports career, she won the silver medal in 2019 in the Second World Deaf Youth Badminton Championship that was held in Taiwan.

Talking about her success, Shreya reportedly said, “It was my first Deaflympics. I worked so hard and faced a lot of difficulties, but my parents supported me. I would like to thank my coach too. I want to win an individual medal at Deaflympics and one at the upcoming Asian Games too."

Her father, Mr Davindar Singla and mother Neelam Singla were proud parents of the shuttler as they expressed their thoughts on her win. Her father said, “This all is hard work of Shreya, she is hardworking. We got to know that she was deaf and she could not speak when she was four but it was too late. We eventually got a hearing aid installed in her ears and after that, she learnt to speak. This is a huge matter of happiness for Punjab and India too,”

A total of 65 Indian players took part in the 24th Deaflympics which made India stand in the 9th position on the scoreboard with a total of 17 medals out of which 8 are gold, 1 is silver and 8 are bronze.

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