Tokyo Paralympics: Opening loss for Sonalben, Bhavinaben in women’s singles TT
Both the Indian table tennis players have one more group match left in their respective classes. The group match results will determine the seedings for the knockouts.
Indian table tennis players Sonalben Manubhai Patel and Bhavinaben Hasmukhbhai Patel lost their opening women’s singles matches in their respective groups at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympics on Wednesday.
The table tennis singles competition at the Paralympic Games features both a group stage as well as a knockout round. The group stages determine the table tennis players’ seedings for the knockout stage.
Competing in the women's Class 3 category, Sonalben Manubhai Patel lost to the Rio Paralympics silver medallist Li Quan of China 3-2.
Though Sonalben started well to manage a 3-2 lead, the Indian TT player allowed the world No. four Li Quan a way back for a 9-11, 11-3, 15-17, 11-7, 11-4 win in their Group D opener.
Sonalben will face South Korea’s Lee Mi Gyu next on Thursday.
In the women’s Class 4 division, Bhavinaben Hasmukhbhai Patel was no match for the world No. 1 table tennis player, China’s Zhou Ying. The Indian table tennis player lost 3-11, 9-11, 2-11 in the Group A tie.
Bhavinaben will take on Megan Shackleton of Great Britain next.
The players competing in the Class 3 and 4 segments are wheelchair-bound. Class 3 category players have no trunk control but bank on largely functional arms, while in class 4, the competitors have greater trunk control with fully functional arms and hands.