New Delhi, August 29: On sunday, August 29 india’s Bhavinaben Patel has scripted history, becoming only the 2nd Indian woman to win a Paralympic medal. The 34-year-old bagged the silver medal in women’s table tennis C4 category after losing to World No. 1 Zhou Ying of China in the gold medal match at the Tokyo Paralympics.
Bhavinaben Patel, featuring in her first-ever Paralympic Games, was at excellent, stunning big names in the field of sport. However, Zhou Ying rallied to her 6th Gold medal in Paralympics with a dominant win over the Indian in the final.
Bhavina lost 0-3 (7-11, 5-11, 6-11) in 19 minutes to the Chinese great. It was the 6th gold medal for Zhou Ying who had finished on the top step of the podium in the same category in the 2008 and 2012 Paralympics as well.
Bhavina made the world sit up and take notice of her skills with a superb campaign at the Paralympics. Known for meditating during her time-outs, Bhavina was at it again in the gold medal match. She began well, going toe-to-toe with Zhou Ying but the Chinese paddler, a veteran of the sport, showed her class taking the first game in just 6 minutes. The end came soon for the Indian paddler who needed a timeout in the final game to try and trouble the Chinese but it wasn’t the case on Sunday.
THE MOMENT 💜Wonderful show of skill and mental resilience throughout her #Paralympics campaign.
🥈Proud Bhavina Patel pic.twitter.com/G0zCGJcQSW
— Doordarshan Sports (@ddsportschannel) August 29, 2021
Bhavina Patel can be extremely proud of her achievement in Tokyo Paralympics. The 34-year-old lost only to the World No.1 throughout her competition. Bhavina had lost to Zhou Ying in the opening match of the group stages only to make a stunning comeback.
Bhavina clinched a gutsy win over world number 3 Zhang Miao of China in the semi-final, pulling off another upset at the Paralympics in the women’s singles Class 4 competition. She had defeated world number 2 Borislava Peric Rankovic of Serbia 11-5, 11-6, 11-7 in straight games in the quarter-finals.
In the round of 16, Bhavina has got the better of Joyce de Oliveira of Brazil 12-10 13-11, 11-6 to become the first Indian table tennis player to reach the quarterfinals in the Paralympics