"Videography to track opponents' weakness": Para-Badminton coach Gaurav Khanna gives insights into India's preparations for Paralympics 2024

13 athletes will represent India in the sport of badminton at the Paralympics 2024, which are set to commence in Paris at the end of this month. Seven para-shuttlers from the country competed at the previous edition in Tokyo, winning a total of four medals. Since then, India's performance in international para-badminton has only gotten better.

At the Para-Asian Games held in Hangzhou last year, India bagged 21 medals in the sport. At the BWF Para-Badminton World Championship this year, India won a total of 18 medals. Only China had more.

A lot of credit for this has been given to the national head coach Gaurav Khanna, who believes that the sport could fetch India 10 medals at Paris this year. In a recent interview with All India Radio, Khanna gave some insights into how the para-shuttlers are training for the marquee competition.

"For the preparations there is an ongoing camp, organised by SAI (Sports Authority of India) at Shakunatala University in Lucknow. All the players are trying hard and hopefully, we will live up to everyone’s expectations," said Khanna.

He explained that preparing a para-athlete for an international competition is a multi-faceted process and requires the contributions of several experts.

"Every player has some strengths and weaknesses. Your first job is to work on your weaknesses and convert them into strengths. And (then) you sharpen up your strengths." said Khanna. "Badminton is a game for which you require skills as well as motor abilities."

Khanna stated that the entire support staff has indeed been putting in the work required.

"To develop skills, you need to train hard. You need mental control and high level of concentration. For motor abilities, you need to workout. The physical trainers are working hard for that. For injury management, you need physios. For meditation, yoga teachers are working out (with the players). So, all the experts from the their respective fields are putting in the work," stated Khanna.

He further added, "For badminton, we are doing at least 4 sessions in a day and the players training with full dedication."

Apart from efforts put in by the support staff, India's para-shuttlers are also using technology to better understand their opponents as well as their own game.

"This time we are also taking the help of videography so that we can track the weaknesses of our opponents as well as our own weaknesses," said Khanna.

Khanna believes that all these efforts would yield results that would reflect in the medals tally at Paris.

"I feel because of this systematic planning, we will see a difference in the medals tally and badminton we make an important contribution towards it," he concluded.

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A detailed look at India's performance in badminton at the Tokyo Paralympics

Seven para-shuttlers, including five men and two women, had represented India at the Tokyo Paralympics. Apart from the seven entries in single events, India also participated in the Women's Double's SL3-SU5 competition where Parul Parmar and Palak Kohli competed as a team. However, the duo failed to win a match.

In the Women's Singles SU5 category, Kohli made it to the quarterfinals where she lost to Japan's Kaede Kameyama. On the other hand, men boasted splendid returns. Four out of the five athletes finished on the podium, while Tarun Dhillon finished fourth.

Krishna Nagar won the gold in the SH6 category, whereas Suhas Yathiraj bagged a silver in the SL4 competition. The remaining two were competing in the SL3 category. Manoj Sarkar had to settle for a bronze, whilst Pramod Bhagat went on to clinch gold.

Five of these seven athletes are going to be competing at Paris. Hence, there are expectations aplenty. Paralympics 2024 begins with a grand opening ceremony which will take place on August 28.