Tokyo Paralympics: Bhavina Patel Scripts History, Wins India's 1st Silver In Table Tennis

Bhavinavben Wins Silver: India has won the first medal at Tokyo 2020, table tennis.

Image: twitter/ @Tokyo2020hi

Tokyo Paralympics 2020: Bhavina Patel or Bhavinaben Patel has won the first-ever silver medal for Indian in table tennis at the Paralympic Games. She lost in the final of the table tennis finals and had to settle for a silver medal. She lost to China's ZHOU Ying by 7-11, 5-11, 6-11. 

After losing the first game, Bhavina Patel could not stage a comeback as the Chinese player was dominating from the word go. 

A #Silver medal #IND will remember ❤️

Bhavina Patel's incredible #Paralympics campaign ends with a podium finish as she loses out to #CHN's Zhou Ying 11-7, 11-5, 11-6 in her Class 4 #ParaTableTennis final! 🏆

Thank you for the moments 😃 pic.twitter.com/j8GcnHDtDL

— #Tokyo2020 for India (@Tokyo2020hi) August 29, 2021

Zhou had also defeated Bhavina in the group stages but Bhavina came back strongly and played some exceptionally good matches to reach the final match. The Cinese player is the current world no. 1.

Patel, who plays in a wheelchair, lost the opening game in a tight contest. She plays in the class 4 category of table tennis. 

The remarkable Bhavina Patel has scripted history! She brings home a historic Silver medal. Congratulations to her for it. Her life journey is motivating and will also draw more youngsters towards sports. #Paralympics

— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) August 29, 2021

In the quarterfinal on Friday, Patel had defeated 2016 Rio Paralympics gold winner and world number two Borislava Peric Rankovic of Serbia to clinch a medal and script history. She defeatedanother Chinese player Miao in the semi-finals to reach the Tokyo Paralympic Finals. 

Patel started playing the sport 13 years ago at the Blind People's Association at Vastrapur area of Ahmedabad where she was a student of ITI for people with disabilities.

 

 

 

(with inuputs from PTI)