Paralympics: Nothing is impossible, says Bhavina

Bengaluru, August 28: Assured of at least a Paralympic silver medal after reaching the table tennis finals of Paralympics 2020, India's Bhavina Patel said she does not consider herself as disabled and her performance at the Tokyo Games proves that nothing is impossible.

Bhavina became the first Indian to enter the final of a table tennis event in the Paralympics with a hard-fought 3-2 win over China's Miao Zhang in a class 4 semifinal in the Japanese capital.

The 34-year-old from Gujarat stunned her world no. 3 Chinese opponent 7-11 11-7 11-4 9-11 11-8 in the semifinal showdown that lasted 34 minutes.

Now we #GoForGold!!! @BhavinaPatel6 is through to the FINALS #TableTennis 🏓🔥🔥🔥🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉 After beating World no. 3 #CHN today, #BhavinaPatel will be seen in #Tokyo2020 #Paralympics FINALS tomorrow morning!!! pic.twitter.com/V8hMgst5wi

— Paralympic India 🇮🇳 #Cheer4India 🏅 #Praise4Para (@ParalympicIndia) August 28, 2021

"I don't consider myself as disabled, I'm always confident I can do anything and today I also proved that we are not behind and para table tennis is as ahead as other sports," said Bhavina, who was diagnosed with polio when she was 12 months old.

"I fought against China and it's always said that it's difficult to win against players from China. Today I proved that nothing is impossible, you can do everything," added Bhavina.

Paralympics: Bhavina storms into table tennis final, one step away from gold

Athletes in Class 4 category have fair sitting balance and fully functional arms and hands. Their impairment may be due to a lower spinal-cord lesion or cerebral palsy.

Bhavina took up the sport 13 years ago at the Blind People's Association at Vastrapur area of Ahmedabad where she was a student of ITI for people with disabilities. There, she saw visually impaired children playing table tennis and decided to take up the sport.

She won her first medal in a competition while representing Rotary Club in Ahmedabad where she is settled now after her marriage to Nikunj Patel, who has played junior cricket for Gujarat.

Bhavina reached world number two ranking in 2011 after winning a silver medal for India in PTT Thailand Table Tennis Championship. In October 2013, Bhavinawon another silver in the women's singles Class 4 at the Asian Para table tennis championships in Beijing.

India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi led glowing tributes on Twitter for Bhavina.

"Congratulations Bhavina Patel! You played excellently. The entire nation is praying for your success and will be cheering for you tomorrow. Give your best and play without any pressure. Your accomplishments inspire the entire nation. #Paralympics"

Congratulations Bhavina Patel! You played excellently.

The entire nation is praying for your success and will be cheering for you tomorrow. Give your best and play without any pressure. Your accomplishments inspire the entire nation. #Paralympics

— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) August 28, 2021

This was Bhavina's first victory against the former world No.1 Zhang. The two players had met 11 times before.

Bhavina, who plays in a wheelchair, will take on China's world No.1 paddler Zhou Ying in the summit clash on Sunday (August 29). The match will be held at 7.15 am IST.

She had gone down tamely (3-11, 9-11, 2-11) to the Chinese player in her opening group match on Wednesday (August 25).

In the quarterfinal on Friday (August 27), Bhavina had defeated 2016 Rio Paralympics gold winner and world No.2 Borislava Peric Rankovic of Serbia to clinch a medal and script history.

She said focussing on mental aspect of the game helped her during the match. "My schedule used to start at 4am and I used to focus more on my mind, through meditation and yoga I learnt to keep myself calm. During matches, sometimes we make mistakes in a hurry and we lose points but I could control my thoughts today," she said.

"I want to thank the coaches, who taught me tricks and technique because of them I have been able to reach here," added Bhavina.

(With inputs from PTI)