India’s para table tennis player also positioned at the world number 19, Sonalben Patel came into action on Wednesday, August 25th Tokyo Paralympics game. But unfortunately para table tennis player Sonalben Patel got defeated by China’s Li Qian, who is also a two-time Paralympic medalist. Sonalben Patel got defeated by the Chinese para table tennis player by 2-3 in the opening match of the Group D of women’s table tennis class 3 event at Tokyo Paralympics on Wednesday.
Well, surely Sonalben Patel made a good Kickstart with an impressive 11-9 margin win in the first match. In fact, Sonalben Patel wrapped the first match in 6 minutes which is quite impressive. It was a quite exciting and interesting match as the Indian capitalized to three consecutive points in the end. But as the second round started the two-time Paralympic medalist, China’s Li Qian, showed her full gameplay and it was very hard for the Indian para table tennis player to defeat her. And as a result, the Chinese para table tennis player Li Qian took over the second round and registered a lead over Sonalben Patel. The match was becoming more interesting and the rallies got quite long, but Sonal was not able to defeat the Chinese para table tennis player and gave away the game by 3-11.
Both the para table tennis players indeed had a neck-to-neck competition. And when the third match started Sonal was trying her best and kept a close tab with China’s Li Qian. Samaj was becoming a nail-biting contest and every minute of the match was quite exciting to watch. The match also ensued the longest rally being fought off 13 shots. Also, both the paddlers were giving their best and fired intense shots and Sonal also fought to get better than Li Qian. But China’s Li queen indeed leveled up the match at 2-2. The Chinese para table tennis player also registered an 11-7 win in the third game. The game was at a very exciting level and it was all set for a crucial decider in the fifth game. China’s Li Qian took a 6-2 lead at the interval. She further took lead and the two-time Paralympics medalist, Li Qian, won the decider match by 11-6 and thus she won the match by 3-2, and unfortunately, India Sonalben Patel had to accept her defeat.
Meanwhile, Bhavinaben also had to compete with the world’s number one Chinese para table tennis player Zhou Ying. but unfortunately, she got defeated by the world’s number one Chinese paddler and went down disappointingly by 3-11 9-11 2-11 in women’s singles class 4 group A fixture. Zhou Ying is a 2008 and 2012 Olympic champion and she defeated Bhavana Patel in just 18 minutes. The Chinese paddler was strong from the beginning and she didn’t even waste her time and dominated the first round by 11-3.
While the second round started Bhavinaben Hasmukhbhai Patel gave her best and also she was trying to show more resistance towards the game but Zhou Ying the game strongly and claimed a close 11-9 victory.
And as the third set started, the Chinese paddler and two-time Olympic champion, Zhou Ying continued to keep her game strong and dominant and she took the game and match as she gave only two points to Bhavinaben Patel. Now Ravina Patel will play a match with Megan Shackleton of Great Britain in a final group A match on Thursday.
The difference between the class 3 category and class 4 category is that the class 3 category has no trunk control and their arms are also affected slightly while in the class 4 category the players have fair balance while sitting and their arms and hands are fully functional.
