Tokyo Paralympics: Palak Kohli wins her first match in SU5 singles

India's Palak Kohli won her first match at the ongoing Tokyo Paralympics, after enduring three tough defeats. The 19-year-old defeated Turkey's Zahra Balgar 21-12, 21-18 in 27 minutes in the Women's SU5 Group A encounter.

Unlike her SU5 singles game yesterday where she looked completely out of sorts, Palak seemed to be completely in rhythm today. Strokes flowed like water from her racquet, and the youngster responded well whenever put under pressure by Zahra Balgar to register her first win in Tokyo after three tough loses - one each in Singles, Mixed Doubles and Women's Doubles.

While the first game seemed to be close with the scoreline reading 11-8 in Palak favour going into the break, the Indian quickly pulled away in the second half to pocket it 21-12. On the other hand, Zahra Balgar refused to budge in the second game even after trailing 9-14 and made a good comeback, before Palak wrapped up the game 21-18 to win the match,

After falling to a heavy defeat against Ayako Suzuki of Japan yesterday, this comes as a much-needed win for Palak. She is now second in the Group A standings, and a win for Suzuki against Zahra Balgar tomorrow will all but assure the Indian a place in the quarterfinal.