3 Gujarat paralympians aim for glory

Ahmedabad: Three paralympians from Gujarat will compete for glory as the Tokyo Paralympic Games get underway from Tuesday.

While the three athletes from the state could not win any medal in the recently concluded Tokyo Olympics, all eyes are now on Bhavina Patel and Sonal Patel — both of whom will participate in the para table-tennis event. The focus is also on Parul Parmar, who will fight for a medal in para badminton.

Parmar is a four-time Asia Para Games medallist, winning two golds. She will pair up with Palak Kohli for the doubles para badminton event. The para badminton events are expected to begin from September 3.

Bhavina and Sonal begin their medal quest from Wednesday, as they will play in the women’s wheelchair Class 4 and Class 3 competitions respectively. The semifinals and final of the table-tennis events are scheduled on August 28 and 29 respectively.

The duo has been training at the Blind People’s Association in Ahmedabad. While Bhavina is ranked eighth in the world in her category, Sonal is ranked 19th. Both have been recipients of the Sardar Patel Award and the Eklavya Award and have been medallists at the Asian Para Games.

This is the first time since its formation that six athletes from Gujarat have been selected for Olympics and Paralympics.

No medal for state’s

Olympians: Three Olympians from the state —Ankita Raina (tennis), Elavenil Valarivan (shooting), and Mana Patel (swimming) — could not win any medal at the Tokyo Olympics. All three made their Olympics debut.

While Raina paired up with Sania Mirza in the tennis doubles event, Valarivan took part in the 10-metres air rifle event and also the mixed team event. Mana Patel competed in the 100m backstroke event.


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