NEW DELHI, August 29: Prime Minister Narendra Modi and former Congress President Rahul Gandhi on Sunday congratulated Bhavina Patel for winning silver medal in Table Tennis at Paralympics games in Tokyo.
Modi 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. #Paralympics.”
Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, too, congratulated her.
“Congratulations to Bhavina Patel for winning the #Silver. India applauds your achievement. You’ve done the nation proud,” Rahul tweeted.
Bhavina Patel has made history for India on the National Sports Day by becoming the first Table Tennis player from the country to win a medal in the Paralympic games.
Her silver win is India’s first medal at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic games and the 13th overall — 4 gold, 5 silver and 4 bronze.
Bhavina, ranked 12th in the world, had made an incredible run to the final by beating the gold and silver medallist of the 2016 Rio Paralympics. On Sunday, she found Zhou, winner at the Beijing 2008 and London 2012 games, too strong to handle and lost 3-0 (7-11, 5-11, 6-11) in a 19-minute encounter in women’s singles Class 4.
The 34-year-old Bhavina, who lost to the best player in the world and the one who is far more experienced and superior to her, became the first Indian Table Tennis player to win a medal at the Paralympics.
She also became only the second Indian female athlete to win a medal in the Paralympics after Deepa Malik, who bagged silver in Shotput F43 in 2016.
Bhavina, in her maiden Paralympic Games, had lost to Zhou in her opening preliminary round Group A match too.