Bhavinaben wins TT silver at Paralympics

Bhavinaben Patel on Sunday became only the second Indian woman to win a medal at the Paralympics after she signed off with a historic silver following a 0-3 loss to world number one Chinese paddler Ying Zhou in the women's singles table tennis class 4 final here.

The 34-year-old Patel's impressive run at the Games ended with a fighting 7-11 5-11 6-11 loss to Zhou, a two-time gold medallist, in the women's singles summit clash which lasted 19 minutes. With this medal, Indian team opened its account at the Games.

Deepa Malik, who is the current president of Paralympic Committee of India (PCI), was the first Indian woman to win a medal in the Paralympic Games when she had claimed a silver in shotput at Rio five years back. "I'm extremely delighted to win a medal but also a bit disappointed as well. I got a bit nervous," Patel, who also became the first Indian to win a Paralympic medal in table tennis, was quoted as saying by International Paralympic Committee. Patel, a wheelchair player, had also suffered a loss to Zhou, one of the most decorated para-paddlers of China, in her first group stage match earlier in the week. "I can only assure you that next time I meet her you will see a different me. She clearly got the better of me and had all the shots in her book to outsmart by effort. However, this medal will go a long way and I can assure you that," she said. Patel had missed out of the Rio Olympics five years back due to some issues with her documents but now that she has claimed a medal, she feels it was a blessing in disguise. "Had that not happened, probably I would not have been here with a medal. I want to tell all the ladies out there trying to break away the stereotypes to believe in themselves and just go for it," she said. Up against an opponent, who has five Paralympic medals to her name including gold medals in singles at Beijing and London, Patel seemed to struggle in the final as she couldn't execute her strategy and was left to do the catch up job.