Paddler Bhavina Patel has worked really hard, amazing to watch her play: Deepa Malik

Deepa Malik, the President of the Paralympic Committee of India (PCI) on Friday said that paddler Bhavina Patel has worked really hard and she deserves all the recognition that is coming along her way.

Bhavinaben Patel created history on Friday by becoming the first Indian to enter the semi-finals of the Paralympic Games Table Tennis competition and assured India a medal. The 34-year-old Gujarat-based paddler defeated the defending champion and veteran Borislava Peric-Rankovic of Serbia 11-5, 11-6, 11-7 in just 18 minutes in their women's singles quarterfinal Class 4 category.

"It has been an amazing day for the Indian camp at the Tokyo Paralympics today. We are very happy with the performance of female athletes. Sakina in her weight category, she was ranked fifth. Great jubilation coming from table tennis with Bhavina Patel securing a medal position. We are not going to talk about the colour of the medal yet as she has her semi-final tomorrow. We really want that she gets a brighter colour," Deepa told ANI.

"She has worked really hard, amazing to watch her play. She stays very focused and she plays and comes back every time, that makes her an excellent sportsperson. She handles pressure really well. Extremely happy, now she has given us reason to smile and personally for me, being a woman athlete, it is huge seeing another female athlete securing a medal," she added.

Earlier, Bhavina, who became the first Indian para-TT player to reach the pre-quarterfinals yesterday, beat Brazil's Joyce de Oliveira also in straight games. Bhavina will be in action in the semifinals at 6:10 am (IST) on Saturday.

On Friday, India's Sakina Khatun finished fifth in the women's 50 Kg powerlifting final in the ongoing Tokyo Paralympics on Friday.

Sakina, who had won a bronze medal in Commonwealth Games, successfully lifted 90 kg in her first attempt and was not able to go above 90 kg. As a result, the Indian para-powerlifter missed out on a medal.

( With inputs from ANI )

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