India paddler Bhavinaben Patel progressed to the round of 16 in the women’s singles Class 4 table tennis event with a 3-1 victory over Great Britain’s Megan Shackleton at the Tokyo Paralympics here on Thursday.
The 34-year-old Indian dispatched Shackleton, the world No. 9, 11-7, 9-11, 17-15, 13-11 in a contest that lasted 41 minutes.
The other Indian in the fray, Sonalben Manubhai Patel, however, ended her campaign after losing 12-10, 5-11, 3-11, 9-11 to MG Lee of Korea in her second women’s singles Class 3 group match. She had lost her first group match on Wednesday.
“I am very happy as I came through a tough match, after a point-to point fight,” Bhavinaben said.
This was her first win in the tournament as she was blanked 0-3 by world No. 1 Chinese Zhou Ying in the opening round. She has three points from two games and moves to the knockout round along with table leader Ying.
Jadhav blow
Swimmer Suyash Jadhav will miss Friday’s 200m individual medley SM7 event as he is suffering from cold and sore throat. Chef de mission Gursharan Singh on Thursday said doctors have advised Jadhav not to compete on Friday. His Covid-19 test report is, however, negative.
The 27-year-old Jadhav will compete in the 100m breaststroke SB7 and 50m butterfly S7 on September 3.
Afghans evacuated
Afghanistan’s two para-athletes, who were forced to pull out of the Games because of the Taliban takeover, have been safely evacuated, the International Paralympic Committee said but declined to comment on their whereabouts. The two taekwondo athletes, Zakia Khudadadi and Hossain Rasouli, had got trapped in their own country.
