23-year-old Indian para-badminton player Palak Kohli has been ruled out of the 2026 BWF World Para Badminton Championships. The player underwent two surgeries after sustaining a knee twist in the third set of the 2025 Asian Para Badminton Championships held in Thailand. She finished with a silver at the event.
Updating her health condition to The Bridge, Palak’s mentor, Gaurav Khanna, said, “Palak has undergone two surgeries post the Asian Championships. She suffered Anterior Cruciate Ligament (ACL), Medial Collateral Ligament (MCL) and Posterior Cruciate Ligament (PCL). She underwent surgery in July, and since the adhesions were not removed, the doctors performed another surgery in October. She is not in a position to play.”
He also adds by saying that Palak’s recovery will be slow as the surgery was performed on her tumoured left leg. Her chronic issue will be assessed by the classifiers. Like Palak, all para-athletes will undergo a classification process for the 2026 tournament. This process will group athletes as per their impairment, ensuring fair play and balanced participation.
At the 2024 World Para Badminton Championships, Palak won a bronze medal in the women’s singles event held in Pattaya. She is, however, kept under the ineligible list of invitees and is under review to be included in the tournament.
Clarifying about her ineligible status and the impact of surgeries on her classification, Gaurav says that she remains under review on the next available opportunity. There, however, can be some adjustments made during her assessment, and she will then be assigned to the class based on her condition at that time. Her evaluation and classification will be done and decided post-surgery.
Mr Khanna also mentioned, “When a player gets injured, it is likely to increase or decrease the level of disability of a player. We can only go through the review as soon as the doctor gives us a fitness certificate. It is hard to say when, it may take six months, eight months or more. Whenever she is fit, we will go for the review.”
The 2026 BWF Badminton Championship is scheduled to be held in Manama, Bahrain, from 7 to 14 February 2026.
Earlier in the Tokyo 2020 Paralympics, Palak was the youngest player in the badminton squad and the second youngest to represent India. She competed in the women’s singles event in the SU5 category and in the SL3-SU5 category for the women’s and mixed doubles.
(Inputs sourced from The Bridge)
