Nagoya, Oct 17 Paralympics silver medallist Bhavina Patel continued her winning streak at the Asian Para Games, defeating Jordan’s Faten Eleimat in the women’s para table tennis competition here on Saturday.
Bhavina brushed aside Eleimat 11-6, 11-7, 11-4 in the women’s singles Class 4-5 Group A match in 17 minutes to top Group A.
Class 4 and Class 5 in para table tennis represent the higher-functioning tiers among wheelchair athletes (Classes 1-5), where players have varying degrees of sitting balance and core or arm control.
Sonalben Patel began her campaign with a 3-0 win over Japan’s Yuka Ikeyama but then lost 0-3 to South Korea’s Migyu Lee in the Class 3 event.
In the men’s singles Class 3 event, Shubham Wadhwa lost 0-3 to Saudi Arabia’s Ibrahim AlHassan.
Class 3 in para table tennis is a wheelchair sport class for athletes who have limited trunk control and poor sitting balance, but normal or near-normal arm and hand function.
Competing in the Class 1 category, Ekta Bhyan went down 0-3 to Saudi Arabia’s Maryam Almyrisl in the women’s singles, while Jehan Madan lost 1-3 to Saudi Arabia’s Rakan Alsalmi.
Class 1 is the most severe sitting wheelchair class, designated for players who have no sitting balance and a severe reduction of function in their playing arm, typically due to a spinal-cord lesion or polio.
Dattaprasad Chougule lost 0-3 to local paddler Koyo Iwabuchi in the men’s singles Class 9 group match.
Class 9 in para table tennis is a standing sport class for athletes with mild physical impairments affecting their legs or playing arm, or severe impairments of their non-playing arm.
(PTI News)
