Paddler Bhavina Patel wrapped up her sensational Tokyo 2020 campaign on Sunday with a historic silver medal, becoming only the second Indian woman to win a medal at the Paralympics.
This was India’s first medal at the ongoing Games in Tokyo.
She went down to world No 1 Ying Zhou of China in the women’s singles table tennis class 4 final but earned India’s first-medal in the sport at the Paralympics. The 34-year-old’s impressive run at the Games ended with a fighting 7-11, 5-11, 6-11 loss to Zhou, now a two-time singles gold medallist, in the women’s singles summit clash which lasted 19 minutes.
World No 12 Patel had also lost to Zhou, one of the most decorated para-paddlers of China, in her first group stage match earlier in the week in the group stage. Since then, she beat world No 9 Megan Shackleton in a must-win Group A match, downed the world No 8 Joyce de Oliveira in the round of 16, knocked world No 2 and Rio 2016 gold medallist Borislava Peric Rankovic in…