India’s Bhavinaben Patel had to settle for silver in the final of the women’s table tennis (Class 4) in the Tokyo Paralympics as she lost to China’s Zhou Ying. Bhavinaben faced the top-ranked Chinese player in a game that went for 19 minutes and lost the final 7-11, 5-11, 6-11.
The Indian athlete commenced her Paralympics journey on a historic note as she bagged a silver medal in her first appearance at the Games. Bhavinaben’s silver medal in the women’s table tennis (Class 4) also marked the first medal for India in the ongoing Tokyo Paralympics. She played against the opponent, who has won five Paralympic medals, which includes gold medals in singles at London and Beijing. The 34-year-old Indian athlete seemed to struggle against the Chinese paddler as she couldn’t manage to execute her plans. Patel also lost to Zhou earlier in the week in her first group stage match.
At the age of 12, Patel was diagnosed with polio, she defeated world no.3 Miao Zhang of China 7-11, 11-7, 11-4, 9-11, 11-8, in the semifinal fixture which took place on Saturday.
Patel beat the 2016 Rio Paralympics gold medalist and world number two Borislava Peric Rankovic of Serbia on Friday in the quarterfinal to secure a medal.