Para Badminton World C'ships: India confirms first-ever wheelchair mixed doubles medal

The pair of Prem Kumar Ale and Alphia James confirmed a historic first-ever wheelchair mixed doubles medal for India at the Para World Championships in Manama, Bahrain.

The duo scored a straight-game 21-14, 21-17 win over the fellow Indian pair of Abu Hubaida and Pallavi Kaluvehalli in the quarterfinal to assure this medal.

Prem and Alphia have had a brilliant run throughout the tournament so far, having not dropped a single game en route to the semi-finals.

This is also India's first wheelchair medal at the World Championships in 12 years, since Sanjeev Kumar's bronze medal in the now scrapped men's doubles WH2 category.

Prem and Alphia had a bye in the round of 16 after topping their group with two wins out of two; meanwhile, Abu-Pallavi defeated Brazil's Julio-Daniele in their pre-quarterfinal matchup.

They will next take on the World No.1 Chilean-Belgian pairing of Jaime Aranguiz and Man-Kei To in the semi-final on Thursday, hoping to reach the first-ever final.

This will be the second meeting between the two pairs, where the Indian pair bowed down in their last meeting after a tight three-game encounter at the Japan Open 2024.

This will be the only medal for India in the wheelchair category, as Shashank Kumar (MS WH1) and Alphia James (WS WH2) bowed out in the quarterfinals.

Alphia and Pallavi also reached the quarterfinal of the WH1-WH2 Women's Doubles category but bowed down in straight-games to the Chinese pair.