Bhavinaben Patel scripted history on Sunday when she became India's first medalist in Table Tennis at the Paralympic Games. The 34-year-old bagged a silver medal in the Tokyo Games after she conceded a straight-game defeat to China's Ying Zhou in the final.
Patel enjoyed a stellar run at the Games, defeating a defending champion in the quarterfinal and China's World No.3 in the semis to setup the gold medal clash.
She also opened India's medal account at the Tokyo Paralympics.
Following the game, Patel received praise from the Indian sports fraternity for her incredible performances throughout the Games. India's first individual Olympic gold medallist Abhinav Bindra hailed Patel's skills and mental resilience.
"Fantastic performance by @BhavinaPatel6 to bag a silver and open India's account in the #Tokyo2020 @Paralympics. Wonderful show of skill and mental resilience. Extremely proud! #Praise4Para," wrote Bindra.
The President of Paralympic Committee of India, Deepa Malik, who also won a silver medal in the shotput event at the 2016 Rio Paralympics, recorded a video message to congratulate Bhavinaben Patel.
Olympian and India's veteran table tennis player Sharath Kamal also congratulated Bhavina Patel. "What better way to start #NationalSportsDay today than this? Fantastic to see a medal win in table tennis at the @Paralympics. Many congratulations on your second place medal win, and the exceptional performances @BhavinaPatel6! #Praise4Para @ParalympicIndia," wrote Sharath.
Former athlete PT Usha wrote, "My best wishes to everyone on National Sports Day today! Heartiest congratulations to @BhavinaPatel6 on winning the medal @Tokyo2020 Paralympic Games. This is India's first ever Table Tennis medal either at Olympics or #Paralympics."
Former Indian cricketers VVS Laxman, Virender Sehwag and Wasim Jaffer also congratulated the Indian athlete on the stellar achievement.
