Once denied a job because of disability, Bhavina Patel wins medal at Tokyo Paralympics

Bhavina Patel has become the new sensation of Indian para table tennis, as she won the silver medal on Sunday at the Tokyo Paralympics. She etched her name in history by becoming the first paddler from India to achieve this feat.

Though Bhavina lost her first match of the Games, she showed immense perseverance to pull off a terrific comeback and bag the glory under her name. In her road to the final of the Tokyo Paralympics, Bhavina went on to beat the top players of the world, including wins over world number 2 Borislava Peric in the quarterfinal and world number 3 Zhang Miao in the semifinal.

While the nation will be cheering for Bhavina's success at the Games, did you know Bhavina was denied a job because of her disability?

Bhavina Patel wanted to become a teacher and had went for a job interview, it is where her application was rejected owing to disability. at just the age of 12 months, she was diagnosed with poliomyelitis.

Bhavina did a course at the ITI institution in Ahmedabad, Gujarat. an ITI course and pursued her graduation through correspondence from Gujarat University. During this time, she grew interested in sports and learnt table tennis under coach Lalan Doshi.

Doshi has trained Bhavina for the last 13 years since 2008. "This is an effort of over 13 years since she has been training with me. She has trained for eight hours every day," the seasoned coach sounded proud about his student.