Indian paddlers Bhavinaben Patel and Sonalben Manubhai Patel began their campaigns with opening round defeats in their respective events at the Tokyo Paralympics on Wednesday. (More Sports News)
Competing in the women's Class 3 category, Sonalben was ahead after the first three games but lost momentum to lose 11-9, 3-11, 17-15, 7-11 4-11 against Li Quan of China, world number four and the Rio Paralympics silver medallist, in a tightly-contested match.
Sonal gave a tough fight... pitched against a Chinese player to pull it to a 2-2 draw and then just give in by a few points. To have five game sets to play in severe disability is stunningly satisfying performance. This match gives her the confidence that she needed @Tokyo2020 pic.twitter.com/8rIc8DHHhF
— Deepa Malik (@DeepaAthlete) August 25, 2021
On the other hand, Bhavinaben, who was also up against world number one Chinese paddler Zhou Ying, lost, went down tamely 3-11 9-11 2-11, in the women's singles Class 4 group A fixture.
Players in the Class 3 category have no trunk control, yet their arms are minimally affected by the impairment, while in class 4 competitors have fair sitting balance and fully functional arms and hands.
Their impairment may be due to a lower spinal-cord lesion or cerebral palsy.
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