Badminton, one of the most followed sports in India, will finally make its debut at the Paralympic Games today. In 2015, the International Paralympic Committee announced that badminton and taekwondo would make their debut in the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics. Badminton has been one sport that has excited Indian fans recently as India has been one of the front runners in several para-badminton disciplines over the past few years.

In September 2017, the International Paralympic Committee announced 14 Badminton events — seven men’s, six women’s and one mixed — for Tokyo 2020, as the sport makes its Paralympic debut. A total of 90 players (46 men and 44 women) will compete in singles, doubles and mixed doubles events. The inclusion of the sport in the Olympics is a reflection of its global popularity. Since the 1990s, international competitions have been established, with the first global championships held in the Netherlands in 1998. The tenth world championship in 2015 had over 230 athletes from 35 countries, and the sport is now played in over 60 countries across five continents.

Para badminton Sports Classes / Events and Indian Participants

Para badminton players participate in men’s and women’s singles, men’s and women’s doubles, and mixed doubles, just as badminton athletes. To ensure fairness, athletes are divided into six “Sport Classes.”

• Wheelchair 1 WH 1

The participants in this class require a wheelchair to play. Players in this Class usually have impairment in both lower limbs and trunk function.

Indian Participants: No Indian participants.

• Wheelchair 2 WH 2

Players in this class could have impairment in one or both lower limbs and minimal or no trunk impairment. They are required to play on a wheelchair in this class.

Indian Participants: No Indian participants.

• Standing Lower SL 3

The player must play standing in this class, and they could have impairment in one or both lower limbs and poor walking/running balance.

Indian Participants: Pramod Bhagat, Manoj Sarkar

India is one of the favourites to win at least a medal in this category. Pramod Bhagat is the reigning world champion, while Manoj Sarkar is ranked 3rd in the world.

Format: Group stage follwed by knockouts with the top-two players from each group reaching the semifinals.

•  Standing Lower SL 4 

It is another standing class of para-badminton where the player has a lesser impairment than Sport Class SL 3. The player could have impairment in one or both lower limbs and minimal impairment in walking/running balance.

Indian Participants: Tarun Dhillon, Suhas LY, Parul Parmar

With world number two Tarun Dhillion and world number three Suhas LY, India could hope for a medal in the men’s category, ranked second and third respectively in the world rankings.

Meanwhile, in the women’s singles category, Parul Parmar is India’s only representation. The 48-year-old two-time world champion in the SL3 category earned a spot in this division as she qualified in the women’s doubles (SL3-SU6) category.

Format: Group stage followed by knockouts with top two players from each group qualifying for the last four stages in men and only top player from the four groups making it to last four in women.

• Standing Upper SU 5

The players in this class have impairment of the upper limbs. The impairment could be on the playing or non-playing hand.

Indian Participant: Palak Kohli

Palak Kohli will compete in singles, doubles and mixed doubles events of the Tokyo Paralympics, a first for an Indian para-shuttler. Along with Parul Parmar, she is ranked 6th in the SL3-SU5 women’s doubles category.

The teenager recently played all three events at the Dubai Para-Badminton event held in April 2021 and reached the final in singles and semi-finals in the two doubles categories.

• Short Stature SH 6

These players have a short stature due to a genetic condition often referred to as “dwarfism”.

Indian Participant: Krishna Nagar

The left-handed shuttler from Jaipur is currently ranked number two in the world, and he is known for his speed and agility. Having made his debut on the international circuit in 2019, he won the bronze medal at the 2019 World Championship held in Basel.

Format: Group stage followed by knockouts with top-two players in each group reaching the semi-finals

3 Things to Know About Para-badminton

• All singles wheelchair events and one standing class with a lower limb impairment (SL 3) use half the court. Doubles use the entire court, apart from the section close to the net.
• Competition wheelchairs incorporate several modifications to aid players. A low backrest is used to avoid interference with a player’s movement. In addition, extra caster-wheels added to the rear of the wheelchair prevent it from overturning when the player reaches backwards to hit the shuttlecock
• The net’s height is the same for all classes and stands at 1.55m, the same as in Olympic badminton.

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