TOKYO: Bhavina Patel made history at the Tokyo Paralympic Games on Friday by storming into the semifinals and assuring India a medal in Women's Singles Class 4 table tennis on Friday.
In the quarterfinals, the 34-year-old from Ahmedabad stunned 2016 Rio Paralympic Games gold-medallist Borislava Peric Rankovic of Serbia in straight games 3-0 (11-5,11-6, 11-7) in just 18 minutes.
Bhavina is the first Indian woman table tennis player to reach the semifinals in the Paralympic Games. In the semifinals, she will meet China's Zhang Miao on Saturday. If she wins on Saturday, she will play the winner of the other semifinal, an all-Chinese affair between Zhou Ying and Gu Xiaodan. If she loses the semifinal, Bhavina will return home with a bronze medal as both losing semifinalists will get bronze medals from this year. Bhavina has assured India's first medal in table tennis at the Paralympics. India's 12 medals at the Paralympics so far have come in three sports -- athletics (3 gold, 4 silver, 3 bronze), powerlifting (1 bronze), and swimming (1 gold). IANS
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