Bhavina Patel won a silver medal at the Tokyo Paralympics in class-4 Table Tennis on Sunday. She lost to China's Zhou Ying by 0-3 in the final, settling for a silver medal. She lost the final 7-11, 5-11, 6-11.
Bhavina hails from the Mehsana district of Gujarat. The state government of Gujarat has announced a cash reward of rupees 3 crore for the silver medalist.
“Chief Minister Vijay Rupani has congratulated Bhavina Patel, daughter of Mehsana district of Gujarat, for making the country proud by her outstanding achievements in table tennis at the Paralympic Games,” the Chief Minister’s Office said in a note to PTI.
She had earlier defeated world no. 2 and 3 in her previous matches but failed to win against the world no. 1 Zhou Ying.
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.
Bhavina recieved a lot of praise for her performance at the Tokyo Paralympic Games. India's prime minister, Narendra Modi said that the table tennis player has "scripted history" for India. Even the likes of Rahul Gandhi, Deepa Malik, Virender Sehwag and many others wished Bhavina on her victory.