Paralympics: Bhavina reaches pre-quarters in women’s table tennis

Bhavina defeated Megan Shackleton of Great Britain 3-1 (11-7, 9-11, 17-15, 13-11) in 41 minutes in their Group A preliminary round match.

Tokyo: India’s Bhavinaben Patel reached the Round of 16 in women’s Table Tennis Class 4 at the Tokyo Paralympic Games on Thursday.

Bhavina defeated Megan Shackleton of Great Britain 3-1 (11-7, 9-11, 17-15, 13-11) in 41 minutes in their Group A preliminary round match.

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Bhavina, who had lost her opening match to higher-ranked Chinese Zhou Ying 3-0 on Wednesday, came back strongly to beat Megan. She won the first game easily but had to use all her experience and skills to quell a strong challenge from Megan, who had won the second game and took her Indian rival to extra points in the next two games. She finished second in the three-player group and thus qualified for the next stage.

Bhavina is ranked eighth in the world and defeated the British player to keep alive her hopes of getting into the medal rounds.

Bhavina, who won the bronze medal in International Table Tennis Federation Asian Para Table Tennis Championship that was organised from 23 to 31 August 2017 in Beijing, China. She reached the ranking of World No. 2, by winning a silver medal in the individual category at the PTT Thailand Table Tennis Championship in 2011, is participating in her first Paralympic Games.

She trains with coach Lalan Doshi at the Blind People’s Association in Ahmedabad.