Indian para badminton pair Palak Kohli and Parul Parmar qualify for Tokyo Paralympics

The Indian women’s pair of Palak Kohli and Parul Parmar made it to the Tokyo Paralympics and became the first para shuttlers to achieve the feat. The pair did not compete at the most recent Spanish para-badminton International (May 11-16), due to the COVID-19 pandemic and travel restrictions. They have however, received an intimation from the Badminton World Federation (BWF) that they have made the cut.

The pair – 18-year-old Palak Kohli and 48-year-old Parul Parmar take part in the SL3-SU5 women’s doubles event in para-badminton which will be held for the first time ever in Tokyo. SL3 is a player who plays standing. He/she could be impaired in one or two legs and have poor balance. SU5 are players who have an impairment in the upper limb. This could be either on the playing or non-playing hand.

Palak Kohli and Parul Parmar react on qualifying to the Paralympics

Palak Kohli reacted on qualifying for the Paralympic Games and said as quoted by Scroll, “We got the official communication today and I am ecstatic to hear the news. In the last few months, we have been pushing ourselves and training hard. Even in the pandemic, we continued to train under the guidance of Gaurav Khanna sir and never deterred from our focus.”

“I am really grateful that we have been able to clear the first obstacle of getting a Paralympics medal. We have to now set our targets at the podium and devote all our energy in the upcoming days to achieve the goals,” she added.

Their coach Gaurav Khanna said, “I am absolutely thrilled that Palak and Parul are the first ones from the Indian Para-badminton contingent to receive their tickets to Tokyo Paralympics.”

“The pandemic has been difficult on all of us, but this news has brought some positivity. We now have to prepare keeping in mind the level of difficulties the Paralympics will have for us and the work gets somewhat easier for us by having a dedicated training facility. We are extremely grateful to the Sports Authority of India, BAI, Welspun India who has been constantly supporting us,” he added.

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