Palak Kohli loses both singles and mixed doubles opening matches on debut in Paralympics

India's Palak Kohli went down against Japan's Suzuki Ayako in the opening match of the women's singles SU5 Group A match in the 2021 Paralympics. Palak lost 21-4, 21-7 to Suzuki in a match that lasted around just 19 minutes.

Both players exchanged serves early on, but the top seed got on a roll and won 7 straight points to open up an 11-2 lead. The average rally length was a maximum of 4 strokes, as Suzuki was ruthless throughout the game. It was a tough game for Palak as the Japanese opponent in no time snatched away the set 4-21.

Suzuki took a massive 8-2 lead in the second game. The second game looked like a replication of the first game as the Japanese world No. 1 was spot-on with her aggressive shots, movement and gameplay. It was 11-3 in favor of Suzuki at the mid-game interval for the ladies.

There was a slight improvement in Kohli's rallies post the break. She tried stretching the rallies long. It was 16-6 in the middle. This clearly was a one-man show. With sheer dominance, Suzuki swept the set 21-7.

Pramod and Palak mixed doubles match:

Indian duo Pramod Bhagat and Palak Kohli went down fighting against second-seeded Lucas Mazur and Faustine Noel of France in the group B opener of the mixed doubles badminton event at the 2021 Tokyo Paralympics on Wednesday.

Bhagat and Kohli, competing in the SL3-SU5 classification, went down 9-21 21-15 19-21 against the French pair in 43 minutes at the Yoyogi National Stadium, Tokyo.

It was initially difficult for the Indian pair as they were trailing 5-11 during their time out. Things didn't change much after the break as the French duo stormed through the game 9-21.

In the second game, the Indian duo did a better job as they fought back into the match and earned a slender two-point lead at 13-11. Mazur and Noel grabbed a point but the Indian pair pulled off seven straight points to reach the game points.

It came down to the decider and the French duo started well with a 13-9 lead but Bhagat and Kohli fought their way back to take a 15-14 lead in the match. the Indian duo could not capitalize on their lead and were soon overpowered by their French rivals 19-21 in a hard fought match.