New Delhi, March 22 : The focus has been on India's para-shuttlers following their fine performance in the Paralympics since Tokyo 2020. Though Indians have done well in various categories like SL3, SL6, SU5, etc in which players have impairment in upper or lower bodies, the country has not had many participants in the wheelchair category.

World No. 13 para-badminton player Prem Kumar Ale, who endured a spinal cord injury in 2009, is hoping to remedy that anomaly by representing India in this category in the 2028 Paralympic Games and winning medals.

Prem Kumar is all set to make his debut in the Khelo India Para Games and will be competing in men's singles, doubles, and mixed doubles categories in New Delhi.

Prem Kumar Ale, currently India's No. 1 para wheelchair badminton player, is a living example of how India's soldiers are a symbol of strength and vitality, whether they are active in the army or not.

Ale, who joined the Indian Army in 2005, met with a serious accident in 2009. It put him in a wheelchair for the rest of his life but it did not break his spirit. He not only started a new life as a para-badminton player but enjoyed it to the fullest and won several medals at the national and international levels.

Competing in the Men's Singles WH1, Men's Doubles WH1-WH2, and Mixed Doubles WH1-WH2 categories in the Khelo India Para Games 2025, the 37-year-old is today the World No. 13 Wheelchair Para-Badminton Player. As World No. 9 singles player back in 2022, he claimed 10 gold, 11 silver, and 10 bronze medals at the international level.

He had reached the quarterfinals of the last Para Badminton World Championships and had a similar performance in the 2019 Para World Championships. The special thing is that in Basel (Switzerland) that year, Prem had defeated World No. 1 Thomas Wandschneider of Germany.

Ale's journey as a soldier began in Siliguri, West Bengal, in 2005 when he joined the Army's nursing department as a Havildar after completing his schooling in Kangra, Himachal Pradesh. A Nepalese by descent, Ale got married during his temporary posting in New Delhi in 2007. A new chapter in life was added and the journey became easier with a companion. Everything went well until 2009.

Prem, who won a gold medal at the Dubai Para International with Abu Hubaida in 2021, recalled, "I was happy with my wife Indira Maya Ale. But things changed two years later. In 2009, while going to duty on a bicycle, a truck hit me from behind. I opened my eyes and found myself in the hospital. I was unconscious for two months and then after four months, the doctors said that due to spinal cord injury, I would never be able to stand on my feet. It was a shocking moment but I accepted it as God's will. "

Ale, who won the French Para-Badminton International Championships (Level 2) title in 2024, says he had a second birth after that accident. 'For two years, I was treated at the Army Hospital in Pune before I was discharged. After that, I got to know about para sports from the seniors."

"In 2014, I started para badminton. At that time, I was at the Para Physical Rehab Centre in Pune. There were many wheelchair badminton players in the Army and seeing all of them, I also started learning. In 2012, I took early retirement from the Army and in 2014, I participated in the Badminton Nationals held in Mumbai and won a bronze medal. This medal gave me the means to live and then I never looked back."

Ale, who dreams of playing in the 2028 Los Angeles Paralympics, is participating in the Khelo India Para Games this year for the first time. According to Ale, para players are now getting a lot of facilities and recognition, but in 2014, the situation was exactly the opposite.

"There was a lack of provision for para-athletes in 2014. In such a situation, we had to face difficulties. Today, the situation has completely changed. Today almost all our stadiums are accessible to para players. There is full support from the government. "

Currently, Ale is practicing under Aniket Singh at Chandra Patil Academy in Pune. Earlier, he also trained under Gaurav Khanna at GKB Academy in Lucknow for four years, after which he returned to Pune to be with his family. He also has a son and a daughter.

"I am actually living my life right now. I did not live my life before the accident. This is my second birth and I have no complaints from anyone now. Whatever was allowed to happen happened but after that, I have been writing my own destiny," he signed off.

/IANS