Bhavina Patel wins India's first medal at Tokyo Paralympics 2020, clinches silver in Para Table Tennis

Tokyo Paralympics 2020: Bhavina Patel created history on August 29, 2021 by becoming the first Indian Table tennis player to win silver medal at Paralympics. She won silver in the women's singles class 4 at Tokyo Paralympics 2020.

She had stormed into the finals after beating China's Zhang Miao  3-2 in her Class 4 match.  She ended with a podium finish after losing out China's Zhou Ying 11-7, 11-5, 11-6 in the Class 4 Para Table Tennis finals.

#Paralympics debut ✅#IND's first #ParaTableTennis medal ✅

Bhavina Patel's maiden appearance ends with a #Silver medal! #Tokyo2020pic.twitter.com/tINiLxkRL0

— #Tokyo2020 for India (@Tokyo2020hi) August 29, 2021

Bhavina Patel becomes first Indian TT player to win silver in Paralympics

Bhavina Patel has become the first Indian to win silver in the Paralympic Games table tennis event. This is India's first silver in Para Table Tennis and first at Tokyo Paralympics 2020. 

The Indian paddler had earlier entered the semifinals of women's singles after beating  Serbia's Borislava Peric Rankovic in three straight sets of 11-5 11-6 11-7. She had entered the quarterfinals earlier in the day after defeating Brazil's Joyce de Oliviera in three straight sets (3-0) in the Class 4 round of 16 match. 

A stellar match @BhavinaPatel6!! 🤩 Not only have you made history by becoming 1st #IND woman to reach @Paralympics #TableTennis semifinal, you did this at your maiden Games defeating an experienced #Paralympics medalist & World no. 2!! Keep this momentum going 🎉🤩 #Praise4Para https://t.co/YlFVxQhSSw

— Paralympic India 🇮🇳 #Cheer4India 🏅 #Praise4Para (@ParalympicIndia) August 27, 2021

Background 

The International Paralympic Committee (IPC) Governing Board had in 2017 approved the International Table Tennis Federation's request to remove bronze medal play-off in all the medal events at Paralympics and award bronze to both losing semi-finalists.

Class 4 category para athletes have fair sitting balance and fully functional arms and hands. Their impairment may be due to cerebral palsy and a lower spinal cord lesion.

Bhavina Patel had entered the knock-off round after winning one and losing one match in the group round. 

Another Indian paddler, Sonalben Manubhai Patel bowed out of the Tokyo Paralympic campaign after losing both of her group matches. 

In Tokyo Paralympics table tennis event, there will be no bronze-medal play-off and both the losing semifinalists will be awarded a bronze medal.