Wonderful display of focus, hard work: VVS Laxman, Virender Sehwag hail Bhavina Patel

By ANI

NEW DELHI: Former Indian cricketers Virender Sehwag and VVS Laxman lavished praises on India’s para table tennis player Bhavina Patel after she won a silver medal in the Tokyo Paralympics on Sunday.

Sehwag hailed Bhavina’s “wonderful display of focus, hard work, and mental strength” in the Tokyo Paralympics.

“Congratulations to #BhavinaPatel for creating history by winning India’s first silver medal in women’s singles class 4 table tennis event at the ongoing #TokyoParalympics. A wonderful display of focus, hardwork and mental strength,” Sehwag tweeted.

Laxman, the former batsman, also congratulated Bhavina on her silver medal win in the showpiece event.

“Silver medal for India. Many Congratulations to #BhavinaPatel who has created history by becoming the first Indian para-paddler to win a medal in #Paralympics history,” Laxman tweeted.

Bhavina won silver on Sunday after losing the gold medal match to China’s Zhou Ying 3-0 in the women’s singles – Class 4 here at the Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium — Table 6.

World number one Zhou Ying overwhelmed Bhavina Patel in straight sets by 3-0 (11-7, 11-5, 11-6) in just 19 minutes. With this silver medal, Bhavina became the first medal winner for India in this edition of the Games.

Zhou Ying has now become one of the most decorated para-paddlers in China. The 32-year-old is now 6 time Paralympic gold medalist.

She won two medals in each of the singles and team events during the 2008 and 2012 Paralympic campaigns and now one in Tokyo 2020.

Although she missed out on the podium in singles at the 2016 Rio games, she managed to get to glory in the team event.

The Chinese paddler is also a 6-time World Championship medalist. Her medals include 1 silver and 5 gold medals. She is one of the best paddlers in Asia, having won 14 Asian Championship medals and 5 Asian Games gold medals.