Gujarat annouces Rs 3 crore reward to silver medalist Bhavina

The Gujarat government on Sunday announced a Rs3 crore reward for paddler Bhavina Patel for her historic silver medal win at the Tokyo Paralympic Games."Chief Minister Vijay Rupani has congratulated Bhavina Patel, daughter of Mehsana district of Gujarat, for making the country proud by her outstanding achievements in table tennis at the Paralympic Games," the Chief Minister's Office said in a note. 

Indian table tennis player Bhavinaben Patel signed off with a historic silver medal in her maiden Paralymic Games after going down 0-3 to world number one Chinese paddler Ying Zhou in the women's singles class 4 final in Tokyo on Sunday. Zhou Ying won the first game 11-7 to take a 1-0 lead in the match. The world no. 1 troubled the Indian paddler with her backhand shots, and despite a close affair, she managed to take the lead.Ying continued her domination in the next round, managing to win another game 11-5. The third game was a closer affair than the first two games, but the Chinese paddler managed to keep her calm and win the game 11-6 to win the gold medal.

Up against an opponent, who has five Paralympic medals to her name including gold medals in singles at Beijing and London, Patel seemed to struggle as she couldn't execute her strategy.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. Prime minister Narendra Modi has congratulaated Bhavina.

The remarkable Bhavina Patel has scripted history! She brings home a historic Silver medal. Congratulations to her for it. Her life journey is motivating and will also draw more youngsters towards sports. #Paralympics

— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) August 29, 2021

Bhavina made the world sit up and take notice of her skills with a superb campaign at the Paralympics. Known for meditating during her time-outs, Bhavina was at it again in the gold medal match.