Indian table tennis player Bhavina Patel creates history by becoming the first Indian para-paddler to win a silver medal in Paralympic games. Moreover, she also became the first Indian player to win a medal in this edition’s Paralympic games. The World No 12 took on Ying Zhou of China in the women’s single class 4 finals on Sunday.
The 34-year old’s incredible run came to an end as she came up short against the World No 1 ranked player in the gold medal match. Bhavina lost 7-11, 5-11 and 6-11 to Ying Zhou in a game that lasted for 19 minutes.
In the first game of the match, initially, Patel was not far too behind Zhou in terms of score. However, the Chinese paddler showed great skills to clinch the first set. Following the first game, Ying Zhou gave no chance to Bhavina and won the remainder of the games.
Despite losing the gold medal match, the entire country is proud of her amazing performance at the Paralympics in Tokyo.
Bhavina Patel’s Journey to the Finals
With the silver medal win, Bhavina Patel also wrote her name in the history books to become the second Indian female to win a Paralympic medal.
Although Bhavina Patel’s road to the finals was not easy because she faced several up’s and down’s throughout the tournament. Because she suffered a loss to World no 1 Ying Zhou in the opening match of the single class 4 campaign.
However, she secured a victory in a must-win situation in the group stage by defeating world no 9 Megan Shackleton. Later on, Bhavina Patel defeated the Brazilian Joyce de Oliveira who is ranked eighth in the world in the round of 16.
In the Quarter Finals, Patel defeated the former Paralympic gold medal in a one-sided fashion by winning their straight games. Going forward in the semis, she made a comeback and won a five Match thriller after going down a set against world no 3 Miao Zhang. Thus she played all top-ranked players in the tournament and managed to stand her own against them.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and various Athletes congratulate Bhavina Patel after her historic silver medal win
After winning the silver medal in the Tokyo Paralympics, Prime Minister Narendra Modi congratulated Bhavina Patel for her exceptional achievement on Twitter.
Similarly, India’s first Olympic Gold medalist Abhinav Bindra and several other sports athletes praised Patel on Twitter for her excellent display throughout the tournament.
As a result, Bhavina Patel’s historic silver medal win will inspire several Paralympian players to fulfil their dreams and follow their passion.
