The new wave of India's female Para-athletes forcing a shift in perspective

Bright and bubbly, her fingers dextrously scrolling down social media pages, 19-year-old Palak Kohli seems just like any other teenager.

That's until she steps out on the badminton court. It takes a moment to absorb the athletic ability on show as she flurries through some absurdly quick rallies, forehand and backhand. The transformation is almost magical.

Born with an underdeveloped arm, Palak was the youngest Indian Para-badminton player at the Tokyo Paralympics last summer. It's been an arduous journey to get where she is.

In many smaller towns and villages around India there is very little awareness about Para-sport. Palak and her parents hadn't even heard the term Para-badminton before 2016.

A year later, after a chance encounter with a «stranger» who would become her future coach, she picked up a racquet for the first time. By 2019, she'd won her first international tournament.

«As a child I never thought of taking any sports. Everywhere I used to hear it's not for me because of my disability,» she says.

«But I decided to challenge myself. I transformed my disability into a super-ability and Para-badminton has changed my life.»

Palak is one of a new brood of female Para-athletes in India who are challenging norms, rewriting the history books, winning medals and forcing people around them to change their perspectives on disability and gender.

Avani Lekhara is another. Also 19, in Tokyo she became the first Indian female to win Paralympic gold. Her victory in the women's 10m air rifle standing SH1 category was followed by a bronze medal in the 50m rifle 3-positions SH1 competition.

Paralysed from the waist down in a car accident at the age of 10, shooting gave her a new lease of life. She faced many obstacles, such as