Tokyo Paralympics: Bhavinaben Patel Enters Round of 16 in Table Tennis; Swimmer Suyash Jadhav Misses Event
Para table tennis player Bhavinaben Patel (file picture)
Table tennis player Bhavinaben Patel progressed to the Round of 16 in the women’s singles Class 4 event at the Tokyo Paralympics on Thursday. Bhavinaben beat Great Britain’s Megan Shackleton 3-1.
The 34-year-old, starting as the underdog, beat Shackleton, the world world No. 9, 11-7, 9-11, 17-15, 13-11 in 41 minutes. Bhavinaben, India’s top paddler and the World No. 12, started in dominant fashion, clinching the first game in eight minutes. Shackleton made a strong recovery to take the second.
The two paddlers had a tight match from then on, with the Indian edging out the Brit at the Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium.
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“I want to do better in the coming matches. Today, I tried to remain patient and continued to focus on the ball and did not let myself be distracted by any negative thoughts,” said Bhavinaben after the match.
“I am very happy as I came through a tough match, after a point-to-point fight with my opponent. I did not give up,” she added.
Bhavinaben was blanked 0-3 by World No. 1 Zhou Ying of China in the opening match on Wednesday. With the win on Thursday, she has three points from two preliminary round games and moved into the knockout round behind Ying.
Meanwhile Sonal Ben Patel lost to South Korea’s Lee Mi-gyu 12-10, 5-11, 3-11, 9-11 to crash out of the women’s Singles – Class 3 Group D event. She lost her opener against China’s Qian Li on Wednesday.
Jadhav Down With Cold
Swimmer Suyash Jadhav will miss Friday’s 200m individual medley SM7 event as he is suffering from cold and sore throat. The Indian contingent’s chef de mission, Gursharan Singh, on Thursday said Jadhav is a bit under the weather and doctors have advised him not to compete on Friday. His COVID-19 test report is, however, negative.
Also Read | Full Schedule of Indians at Tokyo Paralympics
The 27-year-old Jadhav, whose two hands were amputated below the elbow at the age of 11 due to electrocution, will compete in two other events — 100m breaststroke SB7 on September 1 and 50m butterfly S7 on September 3. In the 2018 Asian Para Games in Jakarta, he won a gold in 50m butterfly S7 and a silver each in 200m individual medley SM7 and 50m free-style S7 events.
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