India’s eye on Bhavina as she bids for Paralympics Gold
MyGame
Tokyo Paralympics
Live on DD Sports (7:15 am IST)
Bhavina Patel may not be a name you know but this Sunday the 34-year-old wheelchair-bound table tennis player will be bidding for Gold at Tokyo.
The soft-spoken but doughty Indian player will face World No 1 Chinese player Zhou Ying in her bid to get the Indian anthem to be sung at the medal ceremony.
Ying is a five-time Paralympic gold medalist and is also a six-time World Championship medalist. She defeated her opponent Gu Xiaodon in back-to-back three games to make her place in the finals.
She is the first Indian to enter the finals of the Paralympic Games table tennis competition.
Patel was diagnosed with polio when she was 12 months old, and she happens to play in the Class 4 category, where athletes have a good sitting balance and fully functional arms and hands. The reason behind their impairment may be due to a lower spinal cord lesion or cerebral palsy.
The table tennis girl had scripted history on Saturday when she won against the World No 3 Chinese opponents by 3-2 to become the first table tennis player from the nation to reach the Paralympic finals.
In a Paralympic Committee of India (PCI) video, Bhavina said, “if I keep on performing like this, I will definitely win the gold medal. I never thought of reaching the finals and only concentrated on giving my 100 per cent and I did that only”.
“And when you give your 100 per cent you can win a medal. I am mentally ready for the finals and I just want to give my 100 per cent,” Patel added.
This was incredible @BhavinaPatel6!
Many Congrats and Good Luck for the GOLD medal match. 🇮🇳🏓🎉🗼 #ParaTableTennis #Paralympics @ParalympicIndia https://t.co/djWddoqHum
— Asian Paralympic (@asianparalympic) August 28, 2021
After her sensational semifinal win at the Tokyo Paralympics, Prime Minister Narendra Modi congratulated Bhavina in his tweet saying, “Congratulations Bhavina Patel! You played excellently. The entire nation is praying for your success and will be cheering for you tomorrow. Give your best and play without any pressure. Your accomplishments inspire the entire nation. #Paralympics,”
Patel hails from Sundhiya village in Mehsana district in Gujarat and plays in a wheelchair. She is all set to take on world number one Chinese paddler Ying Zhou in the summit clash on Sunday.
It is about time that the achievements of our differently-abled athletes got the long-overdue acknowledgement for their achievements on the global stage.
Do you even remember who the Paralympic javelin thrower in the men’s category was? He too won a Gold much like Neeraj Chopra at Tokyo this year in the Summer Olympics.