Learnt To Stay Calm Under Pressure From Sachin Tendulkar, Says Pramod Bhagat

Paralympic gold medallist Pramod Bhagat has attributed his calm on-court demeanour under pressure to the inspiration he took from the sportsmanship and graceful behaviour exhibited by the iconic cricketer Sachin Tendulkar

Paralympic gold medallist Pramod Bhagat has attributed his calm on-court demeanour under pressure to the inspiration he took from the sportsmanship and graceful behaviour exhibited by the iconic cricketer Sachin Tendulkar in his career. Bhagat, the reigning world champion, clinched India's first Paralympics gold with a straight-game win over Great Britain's Daniel Bethell in the SL3 class finals in Tokyo last week. The 33-year-old Indian, who had contracted polio when he was 4 years old, showed great mental fortitude as he recovered from an eight-point deficit in the second game to come up trumps against his opponent. "I used to play cricket during childhood. During that time we used to watch cricket on Doordarsan and I was always fascinated by Sachin Tendulkar's calm demeanour, the way he conducted himself and it had a big influence on me," Bhagat told PTI in an interview. "I started following him. His sportsmanship influenced me a lot. So when I started playing, I followed the same thought process and it helped me to make some memorable comeback in many matches, including World Championships. "When I was 4-12 down in second game of the final, I was confident that I can recover and so I could held my nerves, stay calm and comeback and win."