“I don’t consider myself as disabled” : Bhavinaben Patel

Bhavinaben Patel has already confirmed the Paralympic silver medal after reaching the table tennis final. In an interview with a leading daily, she said she doesn’t consider herself disabled and her performance at the Tokyo Games proves that “nothing is impossible”.

Patel is the first Indian who enter the final of a table tennis event in the Paralympics with a hard-fought 3-2 win over China’s Miao Zhang in a class 4 semifinal here on Saturday. The 34-year-old player from Gujarat stunned her world no. 3 Chinese opponent 7-11 11-7 11-4 9-11 11-8 in the semifinal showdown that lasted 34 minutes.

Patel was diagnosed with polio when she was 12 months old. She further said that “…I don’t consider myself as disabled, I am always confident I can do anything and today I also proved that we are not behind and para table tennis is as ahead as other sports,”

“I fought against China and it is always said that it is difficult to win against China. Today I proved that nothing is impossible, you can do everything…” she added.

This was her first-ever victory against the former world number one Zhang. The two players had met 11 times before. Patel, who plays in a wheelchair, will take on world number one Chinese paddler Ying Zhou in the summit clash on Sunday. She said the focus on the mental aspect of the game helped her during the match.

“My schedule used to start at 4 am and I used to focus more on my mind, through meditation and yoga I learnt to keep myself calm. During matches, sometimes we make mistakes in a hurry and we lose points but I could control my thoughts today,” she said.

She continued, “I want to thank the coaches, who taught me tricks and technique because of them I have been able to reach here.”

“When a player doesn’t get financial support, it becomes difficult to move ahead in sport because the expenses of playing tournaments are so huge and it is difficult to afford for a middle-class family but SAI, TOPS, PCI, government, OGQ, Blind People’s Association, my family, all have supported me,” she added.