Para-Badminton World C'ships: Palak Kohli confirms her first-ever medal

Palak Kohli made a strong comeback to the circuit this year after a long injury layoff and secured her first-ever medal at the Para-Badminton World Championships in Pattaya, Thailand on Friday.

She knocked out the second-seeded Haruka Fujino of Japan in a straight-game (21-16, 21-19) quarterfinal match to confirm her first medal from the world championships.

This was the first-ever victory for Palak against Haruko in their third meeting and also this was the first match between the two players that ended up in straight games.

Earlier, she registered a 21-13, 21-15 victory over former world medalist Chanida Srinavakul of Thailand in the round of 16 match.

This was a very special victory for Palak, especially after the Asian Para Games, where she had to withdraw due to injury concerns and also offered her a very good ranking point to get a qualification for the Paris Paralympics.

She will be aiming to make it to her back-to-back Paralympics after winning a quota from the rankings spot. She also became the first Indian player to confirm a medal in the Women's singles SL4 category after Parul Parmar, 11 years back in 2013

Palak displayed immense growth in the game over the years with her movement in a rally and court coverage and also decreased her unforced errors. She also changed her category to SL4 from her previous category SU5, which she used to play till the Paralympics 2022.

In the semis, she will be up against former world champion and renowned player Leani Ratri Oktila of Indonesia tomorrow. This will be the fourth meeting between the two players which Leani is leading by 2-1.