Para paddler Bhavina Patel on Sunday stamped her authority with a commanding performance to win the gold medal in the women's singles class 3-5 at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham.
The silver medallist at the Tokyo Paralympics triumphed 12-10, 11-2, 11-9 over Nigeria's Ifechukwude Christiana Ikpeoyi to cap off an authoritative display at the multi-sporting quadrennial event.
Throughout the competition, Bhavina's class shone through, as she lost just one game, in the opening round-robin match against Daniela di Toro of Australia.
The 35-year-old, who had beaten Ikpeoyi in the round-robin stage while dropping just 16 points across three games, found the going slightly tough in the summit clash. She was down in the opening game by three points and by four points in the third game but held her nerve to thwart her opponent's charge.
In April this year, the Vadnagar-born, Ahmedabadsettled athlete had bagged the gold medal at the ITTF Egypt Para Open 2022, her first competition after her silver-medal winning feat in Tokyo.
Her statemate, Sonal Patel claimed a bronze in the same class. The 34-year-old beat England's Sue Bailey 11-5 11-2 11-3 in the playoff.
In para table tennis, classes 1-5 are for wheelchair athletes. Athletes in the Class 4 category, under which Bhavina won and Sonal pocketed bronze, have fair sitting balance and fully functional arms and hands, with their impairment due to a lower spinal-cord lesion or cerebral palsy.
Para sports in Birmingham is being held side by side along with non-disabled competitions, making it the largest united para sport in the history of the Commonwealth Games.
