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Tokyo Paralympics: Bhavinaben Patel wins historic silver medal in TT
Bhavinaben Patel became the first Indian paddler to win a medal at the Paralympics.
Bhavinaben Patel created history on Sunday by winning India's first Paralympics medal in Table Tennis (TT). Bhavinaben won the silver medal after losing to China's Zhou Ying in the final of the women's singles class 4 event at the Tokyo Paralympics in Japan.
Zhou Ying won the first game 11-7 to take a 1-0 lead in the match. The world no. 1 troubled the Indian paddler with her backhand shots, and despite a close affair, she managed to take the lead.
Ying continued her domination in the next round, managing to win another game 11-5. The third game was a closer affair than the first two games, but the Chinese paddler managed to keep her calm and win the game 11-6 to win the gold medal.
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The Indian paddler had earlier reached the final by defeating world no. 3 China's Miao Zhang 7-11, 11-7, 11-4, 9-11, 11-8 on Saturday,
Bhavinaben had entered the semifinals with a stunning straight-game win over world number two and defending champion Borislava Peric Rankovic of Serbia in the women's singles Class 4 event.
The 34-year-old, who was diagnosed with polio when she was 12, beat her Serbian opponent 11-5 11-6 11-7 in a quarterfinal match that lasted 18 minutes.
After her semifinals win, Patel had shared some inspiring words.
"...I don't consider myself as disabled, I am always confident I can do anything and today I also proved that we are not behind and para table tennis is as ahead as other sports," Patel had said.
