Tokyo Paralympics: Sensational Bhavina continues historic run, reaches final

Indian paddler Bhavina Patel continued her sensational run at the Tokyo Paralympic Games reaching the Womens Singles Class 4 final with a brilliant win against Chinas Zhang Miao on SaturdayBhavina came back strongly from a game deficit to stun World No 3 Miao 32 in the thrilling semifinal clash on Saturday setting herself up for a historic attempt at winning a first gold medal at the Paralympic Games for herself and the fifth overall for the countryAfter losing the first game 711 the 34yearold government employee from Ahmedabad Gujarat fought back brilliantly to beat Miao the Rio Paralympic Games silver medallist 711 117 114 911 118 in the 34 minutes contestFirsttime Paralympian Bhavina has now assured India at least a silver medal the first in table tennis at the Paralympic Games Indias 12 medals at the Paralympics so far have come from three sports athletics 10 including 3 gold powerlifting 1 bronze and swimming 1 goldIn the final to be played on Sunday Bhavina will take on Chinese World No 1 Zhou Ying the player to whom she had lost in straight games in her first match in Tokyo Paralympics in the group stageIt is a sensational comeback for the Indian paddler as she not only made it past the preliminary round after losing to Zhou but also beat three strong opponents including the Rio 2016 gold medallist Borislava Peric Rankovic of Serbia and silver medallist Miao to reach the finalBut the semifinal clash on Saturday did not get off to a good start for Bhavina a paraAsian medallistBhavina found Miaos topspin serve too hard to tackle and went down tamely in the first game conceding five points in a row from 55 to eventually lose the game 711But just when it looked like the bestoffive games match was following scripts of their previous encounters in which Miao enjoyed an 110 headtohead record Bhavina stunned her Chinese nemesis with an unexpected fightbackBhavina had different ideas on Saturday and she played as a player possessed She stitched together a brilliant combination of powerful Tomahawk serves impeccable backhand defence and a whiplash backhand smash that forced the 30yearold Miao ranked third in the world into submissionIn the second game Bhavina broke away from 55 to win the next five points and levelled the scores at 116With both players winning one game apiece the third game held the key to the encounter as it was crucial for both of them to take lead and establish their ascendancy Bhavina surged ahead with some impeccable returns and sensational shots to take a 50 lead and went on to win the game 104 Though the Chinese player committed some unforced errors Bhavina won the game by superbly mixing her shots creating angles with deft placements and attacking Miao on the backhandStunned by the reverse Zhang Miao came up with a strong response as she fought for every point Scores went neck and neck till 99 in the third game as neither player was ready to give an inch But Miao won the next two points to take the match into the deciderBhavina came out all guns blazing in the fifth and final game as she surged to a 50 lead But Miao had some more fight left in her as she controlled her nerves and reduced the margin to eventually bring it down to 97At 98 when it looked like things will get difficult for Bhavina the Indian paddler pulled two superb shots from her repertoire to seal the game 118 and secured a historic medal for IndiaIf she wins the final against Zhou Ying on Sunday Bhavina will become the first Indian woman to win a gold medal at the Paralympic Games She will be only the fourth person ever after swimmer Murlikant Petkar 1972 javelin thrower Devendra Jhajharia 2004 2016 and high jumper Mariyappan Thangavelu 2016 to win a gold medal for India at the Paralympic GamesIf she loses she joins Deepa Malik as the only woman to win a medal for India in the Paralympic GamesAlso Read Cristiano Ronaldo is back at Manchester United againThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability 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