Tokyo Paralympics: Bhavina Patel and Sonalben Patel knocked out of Table Tennis Women's team event

India took on China in the quarterfinals of the women's table tennis team event. Bhavina Patel and Sonalben Patel represented Indian and were up against a formidable Chinese team.

Zhou Ying and Zhang Bian were the doubles team from China for the first event. They began with a sublime lead of over 5 points before taking Set 1 to 8-2 at one point. The Indian duo were struggling to play their smashes and fast paced game. It was evident that the Chinese had the upper hand in the game and they went on to win the first set by a score of 11-2.

In the 2nd set, the Chinese duo went up 5-1 within the first few minutes of the game and were on the counter throughout. Bhavina and Sonal pegged back 2 points but it was the Chinese who were bent on playing on the offensive. The final set score was 11-4 as the Chinese did not break a sweat.

The third set saw a similar trajectory with the Chinese going 7-0 up in the first half. It was a comeback too late for India who despite pegging back 2 points lost by a set score of 11-2. The first match went to China who took an overall lead of 1-0.

Bhavinaben then took on Zhou Ying in the women's singles match up. India had to win this to keep their hopes of a bronze medal alive. Bhavinaben did well to take the lead early on with a score of 3-2 in her favour. It was an even contest as both competitors were not giving up. From 4-4, the score went to 8-4 in favour of Zhou Ying. She maintained the lead and won Set 1 by a score of 11-4.

The 2nd set began with Bhavina in the lead with a score of 2-1. It was another tight contest with the score being 3-3 in the first 2 minutes itself. Zhou was playing well and was focused on getting a massive lead at the early stages. From 5-3 in Zhou's favour, Bhavina made it 5-5 and was fighting hard.

However Zhou sustained her momentum and took back the lead with two points. Bhavina again fought back to make it 7-7 and was showing extreme grit and determination. Zhou played the cat and mouse game to take the score to 9-7 in her favour. Unfortunately for Bhavinaben, there was no comeback and Zhou ended the Set with an 11-7 win.

Set 3 saw the same trend with the scores being locked at 5-5. Both players were fighting for every single point right from the very beginning. Zhou however took it to 9-6 in the blink of an eye and won the set, game and match with an overall score of 3-0. With this, China advanced to the semi-finals of the event.