The pair of Prem Kumar Ale and Alphia James continued the dream run and reached their first-ever final at the Para World Championships in Manama, Bahrain, on Thursday.
The duo continued their dominant run to topple 21-14, 21-15 the World No.1 Chilean-Belgian pairing of Jaime Aranguiz and Man-Kei To to reach India’s first-ever final in the wheelchair section.
This was the second meeting between the two pairs, where the Indian pair bowed down in their last meeting, but now levelled their head-to-head record at the biggest stage.
Prem and Alphia have had a brilliant run throughout the tournament so far. They are yet to lose a single game in their mixed doubles WH1-WH2 competition.
This is also India’s first wheelchair medal at the World Championships in 12 years since Sanjeev Kumar’s bronze medal in the now scrapped men’s doubles WH2 category.
Earlier, the duo recorded a straight games 21-14, 21-17 win over the fellow Indian pair of Abu Hubaida and Pallavi Kaluvehalli in the quarter-final to assure themselves of a medal.
Prem and Alphia had a bye in the round of 16 after topping their group with two wins out of two; meanwhile, Abu-Pallavi defeated Brazil’s Julio-Daniele in their Round of 16 matchup.
This will be the only medal for India in the wheelchair category, as Shashank Kumar (MS WH1) and Alphia James (WS WH2) bowed out in the quarter-finals.
Alphia and Pallavi also reached the quarterfinal of the WH1-WH2 Women’s Doubles category but bowed down in straight-games to the Chinese pair.
