Paddler Bhavinaben Patel wins historic silver at Tokyo 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, the Indian team opened its account at the Games.

Deepa Malik, who is the current president of the Paralympic Committee of India (PCI), was the first Indian woman to win a medal in the Paralympic Games when she had claimed a bar of 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 on 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.

Zhou, a six-time World Championship medallist, didn't allow Patel, currently ranked 12th in her division, to find her angled returns and get into a rally.

In the first game, Zhou broke off from 3-3 to move ahead. Patel tried to keep herself within touching distance with a superb serve at 5-7 and a forehand flick but the Chinese managed to earn the bragging right with a deep push at the baseline.

The second game was one-way traffic as Zhou jumped to a 7-1 lead early on. Patel narrowed it down to 4-7 but the Chinese soon grabbed a 2-0 lead.

Pushed to the brink, Patel tried to script a recovery as she moved neck and neck with her opponent till 5-5 in the third game. But Zhou once again moved ahead and sealed the contest with a backhand shot.

In para table tennis, classes 1-5 are for wheelchair athletes. Athletes in the Class 4 category have fair sitting balance and fully functional arms and hands. Their impairment may be due to a lower spinal cord lesion or cerebral palsy.

Patel, who was diagnosed with polio when she was 12 months old, started playing the sport 13 years ago at the Blind People's Association at Vastrapur area of Ahmedabad where she was a student of ITI for people with disabilities.

There, she saw visually impaired children playing table tennis and decided to take up the sport.

Patel hoped her success will help change the perception of people towards disability and create more opportunities.

''What I went through growing up, I don't want the next generation of people with disability to suffer,'' she said.

''Accessibility is a major issue and so are jobs and other opportunities. If my medal can somehow make the right noise and get people at the helm of affairs to be heard, I will be more than happy. ''I know it would happen as millions were praying for me back home, thanks for all their support.'' Patel had won her first medal in a competition while representing Rotary Club in Ahmedabad, where she is settled now after her marriage to Nikunj Patel, who has played junior cricket for Gujarat.

She reached world number two ranking in 2011 after winning a silver medal for India in PTT Thailand Table Tennis Championship. In October 2013, Patel won another silver in the women's singles Class 4 at the Asian Para table tennis championships in Beijing.