Bhavina assures India of first medal at Tokyo Paralympics
Late in her teens, Bhavina Patel took a decision: move away from the comfort of her home in her village in Vadnagar, Gujarat, and shift to Ahmedabad. Bound to the wheelchair from the age of one after suffering from polio, Patel wanted to do something in life that broke her out of the endless cycle of sympathy voices around her. She needed to make her own path.
She checked into the Blind People’s Association in Ahmedabad, an organisation that provides opportunities ranging from education to employment to sports for people with disabilities. Patel enrolled for a computer course, while also pursuing a B.A through correspondence. Her introduction to table tennis happened by watching her friends play the sport in the association premises. Patel too tried her hand at it and began to enjoy playing the sport in her spare time.
On Friday, Patel confirmed the opening medal for India at the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics by entering the semi-finals of the women’s singles Class 4 category. The colour of the medal could yet change if she wins her last-four match on Saturday morning, but a bronze is secured as both losing semi-finalists are guaranteed medals. The 34-year-old also became the first table tennis player from the country to win a medal at the Para Games on a day she scripted two brilliant victories over higher-ranked players.
After losing her first match in Tokyo but managing to squeeze past the group stage with a win over world No. 9 Megan Shackleton of Great Britain in a must-win encounter, the 12th-ranked Indian brought her A game for the knockouts. She first defeated world No. 8 Brazilian Joyce de Oliveira 3-0 (12-10, 13-11, 11-6) in the Round of 16 on Friday morning before coming back to the table hours later to stun world No. 2 Borislava Peric-Rankovic 3-0 (11-5, 11-6, 11-7) in the quarter-finals that lasted just 18 minutes. The Serbian is the reigning Olympic champion and the 2018 world champion in the Class 4 category, where, according to the International Paralympic Committee classification, “competitors have fair sitting balance and fully functional arms and hands. Their impairment may be due to a lower spinal-cord lesion or cerebral palsy.”
“It’s because of the blessings and love from the people of the entire country that I have managed to reach this far here,” Patel said after her quarter-final win.
What began as a fun activity for Patel in her daily routine turned into something much more meaningful within a span of three years of her shifting to Ahmedabad. With coach Lalan Doshi working on her game at the association, Patel decided to play the sport competitively in 2007. It proved to be the right call when she won the para table tennis nationals in Bengaluru the same year.
It took some more time for Patel to replicate the success at the global level. She first competed in the 2009 Asia and Oceania Championships, but it wasn’t until a couple of years later that she won her first international medal—silver at the 2011 Thailand Open. She had to wait a couple more years for another one, but this was bigger—silver at the Asian Championships in 2013. The trend of winning medals every alternate year continued for Patel on the ITTF Para tour, with her first class 4 singles gold coming at the Bangkok Open in 2019. Another gold medal followed in Egypt last year, in which she touched her career-high ranking of world No. 8 in April.
Despite disruptions caused by the pandemic and the lockdown thereafter that forced her to double up her training at home in Ahmedabad apart from at the association, Patel prepared for Tokyo in the hope of making her maiden Paralympic appearance memorable. She already has and could well make it even more special if she wins her semi-final against China’s Miao Zhang, ranked third in the world, on Saturday morning. Irrespective of that outcome, however, Patel has ensured that she will become the second woman from India to win a medal at the Paralympics after Deepa Malik, who won a shot put silver at the 2016 Rio Paralympics.
“She (Patel) has confirmed a slot in the medal position, but we want to see a brighter medal because she deserves better for the hard work and grit that she has shown,” Malik, who is now the president of the Paralympic Committee of India, said. “So tomorrow (Saturday) gives us more hope, but we are so proud of her confirming the first medal for the country. For a woman, and for a woman with a wheelchair disability to win a medal, it just makes me so elated. I’m proud to see another woman take home a medal from the Paralympics. I’m happy to pass on the baton.”
Tek Chand finishes last
Elsewhere, in India’s first medal event in track and field at these Paralympics, Tek Chand finished eighth and last in the men’s shot put F55 final. Tek Chand, who was the last-minute replacement as India’s flagbearer in the opening ceremony, had a best throw of 9.04m, a mark below his personal best. Four out of his six attempts were fouled.
Among other prominent results on Friday, powerlifter Sakina Khatun had a creditable fifth-place finish in the women’s 50kg final with a best lift of 93kg that came in her third and final attempt.
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