Bhavinaben Hasmukhbhai Patel entered the history books yesterday after winning India’s first-ever medal in table tennis in the Paralympic Games.
“I’m very happy but I feel bad also because I was a little nervous and that prevented me from being 100 per cent. Because of that I’m not entirely satisfied but I tried my best. I created history,” Patel said.
The 34-year-old, who made her Paralympic debut at Tokyo 2020, clinched Silver after a tight-battle against world number one Zhou Ying from the People’s Republic of China.
Zhou claimed Gold after scoring 11-7, 11-5, 11-6 in Women’s table tennis - Class 4.
Whilst Patel lost in the final, she was one of the breakout stars at the Paralympic Games after making a spectacular campaign all throughout the table tennis competitions and progressing in each round until the final.
She put a dent on China dominance in table tennis after winning the semi-final against Zhang Miao on Saturday and also defeated world no 2 and Rio 2016 Gold Medallist Borislava Peric Rankovic in the quarter-final rounds.
“This match is a big experience for me. The mistakes I made today, I will take and work at. I will do better next time,” Patel said after the Gold Medal match.”
There were celebrations in India after Patel’s victory.
“They are all making Puja [rituals] and they are all wishing for me. They are making so many sounds, so many things, music and so many things they are preparing for me.” (Agencies)
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