Bhavinaben Patel: I have proved that nothing is impossible

Assured of at least a Paralympic silver medal after reaching the table tennis finals here Indiarsquos Bhavinaben Patel on Saturday said she doesnrsquot consider herself as disabled and her performance at the Tokyo Games proves that ldquonothing is impossiblerdquoPatel became the first Indian to enter the final of a table tennis event in the Paralympics with a hardfought 32 win over Chinarsquos Miao Zhang in a Class 4 semifinal here on SaturdayShe stunned her World No 3 Chinese opponent 711 117 114 911 118 in the semifinal showdown that lasted 34 minutesAlso Read Tokyo Paralympics Sensational Bhavina continues historic run reaches finalldquoI donrsquot consider myself as disabled I am 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 sportsrdquo said Patel who was diagnosed with polio when she was 12 months old ldquoI fought against China and it is always said that it is difficult to win against China Today I proved that nothing is impossible you can do everythingrdquoThis was Patelrsquos first victory against the former World No 1 Zhang The two players had met 11 times beforePatel will take on World No 1 Chinese paddler Ying Zhou in the summit clash todayRakesh in prequarters Rakesh Kumar continued his impressive run of form to storm into the prequarterfinals while his teammate Shyam Sundar Swami made a second round exit as Indian archers had a mixed dayKumar had near perfect four ends dropping just one point each enroute to totalling 144 out of a possible 150 Meanwhile Indiarsquos javelinist Ranjeet Bhati bowed outafter failing to register even a single valid throw in his six attempts in the menrsquos class F57 finalTwo Afghan athletes arriveAfghanistanrsquos two Paralympic athletes have arrived in Tokyo and will compete at the Games the International Paralympic Committee said Saturday Zakia Khudadadi and Hossain Rasouli were evacuated last weekend to France from the Talibancontrolled country in a ldquomajor global operationrdquo the IPC saidKhudadadi will compete in the womenrsquos taekwondo K44 49kg category on September 2 and Rasouli will run in the menrsquos 400m T47 athletics event the next dayEntire nation is praying for your success PMNew Delhi Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday congratulated Bhavina Patel for her sensational semifinal win at the Tokyo Paralympics saying her accomplishments have inspired the entire nation ldquoCongratulations 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 nationrdquo Modi tweetedAlso Read TT Bhavinaben advances Sonalben bows outThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliabilitsy and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever