Bhavinaben Patel on Friday assured India of a medal at the ongoing Tokyo Paralympics by defeating World Number 2 Borislava Peric-Rankovic of Serbia in straight 11-5, 11-6 and 11-7 sets in the women’s singles class 4 match. With the victory, the 34-year-old, who was diagnosed with polio when she was 12, also became the first Indian table tennis player to secure a medal in the Tokyo Paralympics. 

“I could win my match today due to the support of the people of India. Please keep supporting me so that I can win my semifinal match,” Patel said after the quarterfinal.

Also Read: Paralympics: Britain’s Kadeena Cox wins gold as she sets new world record

In other events on Friday, Indian powerlifter Sakina Khatun finished fifth in the women’s 50kg category. The 2014 Commonwealth Games bronze medallist Khatun had the best effort of 93kg.

Compatriot Jaideep also had a bad day as he failed to log a single legal lift in the men’s 65kg event.

In archery, Indian compound archer Rakesh Kumar shot a career-best 699 points out of a possible 720 to grab the third place in the ranking round of the men’s open section. Meanwhile, 2019 Asian Para Championship winner Vivek Chikara finished in top-10 in the men’s recurve open category.

Undoubtedly, all eyes will be on Bhavina Patel on Saturday as she competes in the women’s singles Class 4 semi-finals. She takes on Zhang Miao of China in the event. Since there is no bronze-medal play-off in Tokyo Paralympics table tennis, both losing semi-finalists are guaranteed of a bronze.

Shyam Sundar Swami and Rakesh Kumar will be competing in the archery Men’s Individual Compound on Saturday. In the afternoon, Ranjeet Bhati will compete in the Men’s Javelin Throw.

Here is a complete schedule:

Table Tennis (06:10 am IST) –  Women’s Singles Class 4 – Semifinals: Bhavinaben Patel vs Zhang Miao of China

Archery (06:40 am IST): Men’s individual compound open, round of 32: Shyam Sundar Swami vs Matt Stutzman of USA

Archery (08:50 am IST): Men’s individual compound open, round of 32: Rakesh Kumar

Athletics (03:30 pm IST): Ranjeet Bhati in men’s javelin throw F57