‘Most People in India Idolize Virat Kohli’: Paralympics Gold Medallist Nitesh Kumar’s

Virat Kohli has been an inspiration for many athletes and one of them is Indian shuttler Nitesh Kumar. The 29-year-old from Haryana recently claimed a gold medal at the Paris Paralympics. He got the better of Great Britain’s Daniel Bethell in a thrilling Men’s Singles SL3 final to finish atop the podium. The match lasted over an hour, with Nitesh showing incredible resilience to overcome Bethell, who had won the silver medal in the 2021 Tokyo edition. Following his historic win in Paris, Nitesh hailed Kohli as “his hero”, who made him understand the importance of fitness to compete at the highest level.

“Virat Kohli is my hero because the way he channels all his energy and effort into staying fit is truly inspiring,” Nitesh revealed during a chat with Jio Cinema. When he was engaged in the intense gold medal match, the commentator was also heard speaking about the Indian badminton star’s admiration for Kohli.

“Nitesh has a couple of World Championship silver medals and also has the gold from the Asian Para Games. His hero, he says is Virat Kohli– the wonderful Indian cricketer who formerly captained the national side. I think most people in India have Virat Kohli as their sporting hero,” the commentator said.

Nitesh Kumar follows the same philosophy as Virat Kohli as his bio in the Paralympic profile reads– “Never Give Up.” The mindset was on display in the Paris final. Nitesh dominantly won the first set before losing the second one 18-21. He made a roaring comeback in the third set and beat Daniel Bethell 23-21 to win the gold medal in his debut Paralympics campaign.

An engineering graduate from IIT-Mandi, Nitesh Kumar had a dream of becoming a footballer at an early age. Everything changed in 2009 when Nitesh encountered a horrific accident in Visakhapatnam. The mishap caused permanent damage to his leg. He developed his interest in badminton during his college days. Nitesh found his breakthrough in 2020 when he defeated Tokyo Paralympic medalists Pramod Bhagat and Manok Sarkar to win a gold medal at the Nationals. He made his debut in the national circuit in 2016 as part of the Haryana team.