Palak Kohli

Started: She took up Para badminton at age 14. (tribuneindia.com, 03 Dec 2019) Reason: She took up Para badminton after she was left out of her school's handball team due to her impairment. "I was once coming out of a mall [in 2016] and was told by a man about Para sports, particularly Para badminton. He said I should give it a shot. That world was completely new to us and I didn't give it a second thought. He went his way and we went our way. [Being left out of her school's handball team] was very disappointing for me. On the one hand, I had a complete stranger asking me to try out something called Para sports, while on the other a teacher from my school was forcing me not to play any sports. Her reasoning was simple, I might end up injuring myself more if I play. Then there was no looking back. Whatever I used to face in the society and at school. I would never share these with my parents. I just told them that I wanted to start playing Para badminton, and they were very surprised. I insisted and they gave in. Later I realised that the stranger was none other than Gaurav Khanna, our national Para badminton coach. My father had a chat with him and we came down to Lucknow [to join coach Khanna's badminton academy] to kick-start my career in the sport." (hindustantimes.com, 18 Jun 2021; thebridge.in, 01 Jun 2021; lifestyle.livemint.com, 20 Apr 2021) Ambition: To win a gold medal at the 2024 Paralympic Games in Paris. (timesofindia.indiatimes.com, 02 Mar 2022)