Tokyo Paralympics: Bhavina Patel Becomes First Indian Para-Paddler To Win Silver

Indian table tennis player Bhavinaben Patel clinched a historic silver medal in her maiden Paralympic Games defeating world number one Chinese paddler Ying Zhou in the women's singles class 4 final on Sunday.

The 34-year-old Patel's impressive run at the Games ended with a 7-11 5-11 6-11 loss to world champion Zhou, a two-time gold medallist, in the women's singles summit clash which lasted 19 minutes.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi congratulating the silver medallist tweeted, "The remarkable Bhavina Patel has scripted history! She brings home a historic Silver medal. Congratulations to her for it. Her life journey is motivating and will also draw more youngsters towards sports".

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 as she couldn't execute her strategy.

Patel, who was diagnosed with polio when she was 12 months old, had defeated world no 3 Miao Zhang of China 7-11 11-7 11-4 9-11 11-8 in the semifinal showdown on Saturday.

In the quarterfinal on Friday, Patel had defeated 2016 Rio Paralympics gold medallist and world number two Borislava Peric Rankovic of Serbia to assure a medal and script history.