Paddler Bhavina reaches Last 16
Tokyo, Aug. 26: Ace Indian paddler Bhavinaben Patel progressed to the Round of 16 in the women’s singles Class 4 table tennis event with a hard-fought 3-1 victory over Great Britain’s Megan Shackleton at the Tokyo Paralympics here on Thursday.
The 34-year-old Indian dispatched Shackleton, the world world no. 9, 11-7, 9-11, 17-15, 13-11 in a contest that lasted 41 minutes.
Competing in the do-ordie match, the world no. 12 Indian started on a dominant note, clinching the first game in just eight minutes but Shackleton made a strong recovery to take the second.
With the fixture poised at 1-1, the two paddlers fought toe-to-toe in the next two games with the Indian coming on top at the Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium.
“I want to do better in the coming matches. Today, I tried to remain patient and continued to focus on the ball, did not let myself to be distracted by any negative thoughts,” she said after the win.
This was Patel’s first win in the tournament as she was blanked 0-3 by world number one Chinese paddler Zhou Ying in the opening round on Wednesday.
Patel has three points from two games and moves to the knockout round along with table leader Ying.
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.
The other Indian paddler in the fray, Sonalben Manubhai Patel will be in action later in the day.
SWIMMER SUYASH TO MISS ONE EVENT
Swimmer Suyash Jadhav will miss Friday’s 200m individual medley SM7 event here as he is suffering from cold and sore throat. The Indian contingent’s chef de mission Gursharan Singh on Thursday said Jadhav is a bit under the weather and doctors have advised him not to compete on Friday. His Covid-19 test report is, however, negative.
“Jadhav has cold and sore throat. Doctors said he should take rest. So we decided he will not take part tomorrow. But he will be fine for his other two events,” Singh said.
“His Covid report is negative,” he added.