India won four women’s singles bronze medals in para table tennis at the Asian Para Games in Nagoya on Tuesday. Baby Sahana Ravi became the first Indian to medal in a standing class, while Bhavina Patel, Prachi Pandey and Sonalben Patel also reached the podium.
Nagoya, Japan: Four semi-finals, four straight-games defeats, four medals. India’s women left the table tennis arena on Tuesday with a bronze apiece after each met a stronger opponent from China, Iraq or South Korea in the last four, and one of those medals carried a line in the record books that no Indian had written before.
A first for the standing classes
Baby Sahana Ravi, competing in women’s singles Class 9, lost her semi-final 8-11, 2-11, 4-11 to China’s Mao Jingdian. The result still stands as a landmark: Sahana became the first Indian to win a medal in the standing category of para table tennis at the Asian Para Games. Para table tennis awards bronze to both beaten semi-finalists, so her place in the last four was enough to secure it.
Prachi Pandey also reached the podium in a standing class. Competing in Class 6, she fell 9-11, 2-11, 8-11 to Iraq’s Najlah Al-Dayyeni and joined Sahana among the medallists.
Bhavina’s long record
Bhavina Patel faced the most decorated opponent of the four. In women’s singles Class 4-5 she met China’s Zhang Bian, an eight-time Paralympic champion, and lost 7-11, 5-11, 7-11. The bronze is her second in a row at the Asian Para Games, following the silver she won at the 2018 edition. She is also a Tokyo 2020 Paralympic silver medallist and a former Commonwealth Games gold medallist, a résumé that makes a Games bronze feel like part of a long, steady climb rather than a setback.
Sonalben Patel completed the set in Class 3, where she lost 7-11, 5-11, 6-11 to South Korea’s Yoon Jiyu.
A bigger haul than last time
The numbers add context. India’s four podium finishes in the women’s singles already outnumber the two bronze medals the country collected in para table tennis at the previous Asian Para Games, and the Games in Aichi-Nagoya still have days to run. The medals arrived on a busy Tuesday for the Indian team, which also saw Manish Narwal win 10m air pistol SH1 silver and secure a Los Angeles 2028 quota, following India’s 11-medal opening day.
The spread is the real story: four medals came from four different classes, across wheelchair and standing categories, rather than from a single star. The standing-class breakthrough by Sahana and Prachi widens the base of Indian para table tennis at a Games that runs until 24 October.
Result: Women’s singles semi-finals, para table tennis, Asian Para Games, Nagoya. Bronze: Bhavina Patel (Class 4-5), lost 7-11, 5-11, 7-11 to Zhang Bian (China); Baby Sahana Ravi (Class 9), lost 8-11, 2-11, 4-11 to Mao Jingdian (China); Prachi Pandey (Class 6), lost 9-11, 2-11, 8-11 to Najlah Al-Dayyeni (Iraq); Sonalben Patel (Class 3), lost 7-11, 5-11, 6-11 to Yoon Jiyu (South Korea).
