Bhavina Patel wins silver medal at Tokyo Paralympics: Rahul Gandhi, Arvind Kejriwal hail her

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New Delhi, Aug 29: Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Sunday (August 29) hailed para table tennis player Bhavina Patel for winning the silver medal at the Tokyo Paralympics.

Patel - a resident of Mehsana district, Gujarat - signed off with a historic silver medal in her maiden Paralympic Games after going down 0-3 to world number one Chinese paddler Ying Zhou in the women's singles class 4 final.

Her impressive run at the Games ended with a fighting 7-11 5-11 6-11 loss to Zhou, a two-time gold medallist, in the women's singles summit clash which lasted 19 minutes.

She became only the second Indian woman to win a medal at the Paralympics after Deepa Malik - who bagged a silver medal in shot put in Rio 2016.

Congratulating the para-paddler Arvind Kejriwal said that Patel's performance in the Paralympics will inspire millions of people.

"Many congratulations to Bhavina Patel for winning the silver medal for India. You have made every Indian proud. Your stellar performance will inspire millions," Kejriwal said in a tweet.

While congratulating Patel, Rahul Gandhi said she has done the nation proud.

"Congratulations to Bhavina Patel for winning the Silver medal. India applauds your achievement. You've done the nation proud," Gandhi wrote on his Twitter handle.

Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra also congratulated Patel for her achievement and said the entire nation is proud of her.

"The entire country is proud of you Bhavina Patel Ji. Congratulations and best wishes for winning the Silver medal in Table Tennis in Tokyo Paralympics with your stunning and historic performance," Priyanka tweeted.

At her native Sundhiya village in Gujarat's Mehsana district, Patel's family members and friends broke into traditional "Garba" dance, burst firecrackers, and smeared each other with 'gulal' in celebration.

People at Patel's native village had set up a big screen to watch her match live from Tokyo. They started gathering in front of the screen early this morning as the game began. Although Patel went down 0-3 to Zhou in her maiden Paralympic Games, it did not dampen the celebration spirit. As soon as the game ended, people started dancing, burst crackers, and threw 'gulal' on each other.

(With PTI inputs)