India's first medal at Tokyo Paralympics assured as Bhavina Patel reaches Final

Tokyo: Bhavinaben Patel created history by reaching the final of the women's singles class 4 table tennis event at the Tokyo Paralympics after defeating world no. 3 China's Miao Zhang on Saturday. Bhavaniben will now compete for the gold medal on Sunday.

Bhavinaben lost the first game 7-11, but then came back strong to win two consecutive games 11-7, 11-4. Zhang won the fourth game 11-9 to force a fifth set.

The India paddler started the fifth game winning six consecutive points but then lost three on the trot. But then she managed to win the game 11-8 to win the match. She will now take on world number one Chinese paddler Ying Zhou in the summit clash on Sunday.

Bhavinaben had entered the semifinals with a stunning straight-game win over world number two and defending champion Borislava Peric Rankovic of Serbia in the women's singles Class 4 event.

The 34-year-old, who was diagnosed with polio when she was 12, beat her Serbian opponent 11-5 11-6 11-7 in a quarterfinal match that lasted 18 minutes.

Archers Shyam Sundar and Rakesh Kumar will be in action later in the day, along with javelin-thrower Ranjeet Bhati.