City shuttler Palak Kohli making waves at Tokyo Paralympics

Deepkamal Kaur

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Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, September 2

It was a treat for the parents of Paralympics shuttler Palak Kohli to watch the live streaming of the singles match of their teenage daughter, which she won and qualified for the quarterfinals being held at Tokyo.

Kohli defeated Turkey’s Zahra Balgar 21-12, 21-18 in the Women’s SU5 (upper limb impairment category) Group A match. She has her next singles match day after, said proud father Mahesh Kohli, a city-based businessman. She has paired with World No.1 Parmod Bhagat and will play the quarterfinal qualifying mixed doubles match tomorrow, he added.

Palak’s mother Simi Kohli said they watched the match on DD National this morning at Delhi. “We were here for some work and made sure that we watched her play live. It was really exciting to see her play at the age of 19 and defeat women who are far more experienced and elder to her. Had there been no Covid restrictions, we too would have surely accompanied her to Tokyo,” she said.

On a bit emotional note, she said: “When Palak was born with a deformed hand, we were a bit worried about her future. Till the last few years, we were not sure if she will get a good career option. We had never thought that she would rise so high becoming the youngest shuttler for the Paralympics and winning matches there. Since she had her Tokyo qualifying matches at Peru and Brazil in March 2020, she had to miss her Plus Two CBSE exams and drop a year. But this year, she has passed as an open school student managing her studies, games and practice all on her own while training at an academy in Lucknow.”

Palak’s family resides at Islamganj here. She studies from St Joseph’s Convent School and later moved to Police DAV Public School here. Her elder brother Dhananjay Kohli is a B Tech passout from Thapar Institute. Her father runs a manufacturing unit at Surgical Complex on the Kapurthala Road.

The family recalls the chance meeting of Palak with her coach Gaurav Khanna outside a shop in Jalandhar. Palak had gone for shopping and Gaurav, who was a stranger for her then, was coming out and stopped to ask about her disability and gave her his visiting card. She later contacted him and got trained under him to reach the level.

Palak’s dad says: “My daughter has various other international events lined up after Paralympics. This will be her last year to attend the International Youth Badminton Championship to be held at Ukraine in December. Once she crosses 20, she will be ineligible for it. If Covid situation remains normal by then, I too may accompany her to Ukraine.”