Bhavina Patel becomes first Indian TT player to secure medal in Paralympics

The 34-year-old beat her Serbian opponent, world number 5 Borislava Peric Rankovic, 11-5 11-6 11-7 in a quarterfinal match

Bhavina Patel on Friday scripted history by becoming the first Indian table tennis player to secure a medal in the Paralympics after she entered the semifinals with a stunning straight-game win over world number 5 Borislava Peric Rankovic of Serbia in the women's singles Class 4 event here. The 34-year-old Indian beat her Serbian opponent 11-5 11-6 11-7 in a quarterfinal match that lasted 18 minutes. She takes on Zhang Miao of China in the semifinals on Saturday but she is guaranteed of at least a bronze. There is no bronze-medal play-off in Tokyo Paralympics table tennis, and both losing semi-finalists are guaranteed of a bronze medal.