Tokyo Paralympics: Sonalben Patel loses against China's Li Qian in para table tennis opener

India's para table tennis player and world World no. 19 Sonalben Patel loses against two-time Paralympic medallist China's Li Qian by 2-3 in the opening game of the Group D of the Class 3 event in women's table tennis at the Tokyo Paralympics on Wednesday.

Patel was off to an impressive start with an 11-9 margin win in the first game, which she wrapped in six minutes. It was a neck-to-neck contest, where Indian capitalised through three consecutive points in the end. Into the second game, the two-time Paralympic medallist from China took the charge and registered a comfortable lead over Sonal. The rallies got pretty long, but Sonal failed to make a comeback and gave away the game by 3-11.

The third game saw Sonal holding on with perseverance and keeping a close tab with Qian. A nail-biting contest ensued the longest rally being fought of 13 shots. Both the paddlers fired intense shots and Sonal fought to get the better of Qian by 17-15, in the longest game.

Qian levelled up the match at 2-2, as she registered an 11-7 win in the third game. And it was all set for a crucial decider in Game 5. At the interval, Qian took a 6-2 lead. She further extended the lead and won the decider 11-6 to win the match by 3-2.