India’s Bhavina Patel won a historic Silver medal in table tennis at the Tokyo Paralaympics after she lost to China’s Ying Zhou 7-11, 5-11, 6-11. She has become only the second Indian player in history to win a medal at the Paralympic Games. Deepa Malik, who is currently the President of Paralympic India, was the first Indian to win a Paralympic medal at Rio in 2016. She had won her medal in shotput event.
Bhavina has had a dream run at Tokyo Paralympics as she beat world number two Borislava Peric Rankovic of Serbia in the quarter-final stage. Rankovic was the Gold medallist in Rio Olympics five years ago. The Indian paddler stunned China’s Miao Zhang by defeating her 7-11 11-7 11-4 9-11 11-8 in semi-final as she secured a place in today’s final.
Reacting to her win, Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted, “The remarkable Bhavina Patel has scripted history! She brings home a historic Silver medal. Congratulations to her for it. Her life journey is motivating and will also draw more youngsters towards sports. #Paralympics.”
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi wrote, “Congratulations to Bhavina Patel for winning the #Silver . India applauds your achievement. You’ve done the nation proud. #TokyoParalympics.”
Deepa Malik shared a photo of herself with Bhavina as she wrote on the microblogging site, “Our Silver Smiles And here’s the SILVER… Passing on the baton to a woman athlete on a wheelchair #BhavinaPatel !! Exceptionally proud moment! India wins its first medal at #Tokyo2020 #Paralympics, proudly presenting our #silvergirl.”
An accomplishment that will echo through #IND ????️
Bhavina Patel receives her medal as she wins the nation’s first #silver in #ParaTableTennis at the #Tokyo2020 #Paralympics ❤️pic.twitter.com/l4xzgHpYWK
— #Tokyo2020 for India (@Tokyo2020hi) August 29, 2021
Bhavina was diagnosed with polio when she was just 12 months old. She took up table tennis after joining Ahmedabad’s Blind People’s Association. After her semi-final victory, Bhavina had thanked Blind People’s Association for providing conducive atmosphere for sports and helping her reach this far.