Bhavina-Sonal ousted in quarterfinal stage at Paris Paralympics 2024

Indian para table tennis players Bhavinaben Patel and Sonalben Patel bowed out of the women's doubles WD 10 contest with a 1-3 quarterfinal loss against A Young Jung and Sunghya Moon at the Paralympics, here on Friday.

The eighth seed Indians went down 5-11 6-11 11-9 6-11 in a 39-minute contest to their South Korean opponents here at the South Paris Arena.

Both Bhavina, the Tokyo Paralympics silver medallist, and Sonalben will be in action in their respective singles event.

Bhavina, who became the first-ever Indian table tennis player to win a medal at the Paralympics during the Tokyo Games in 2021, was diagnosed with polio when she was 12 months old. She competes in class 4 category.

Like Bhavina, Sonalben was also diagnosed with polio when she was six months old, which later affected both her legs as well as her right hand, leaving her with 90 per cent disability. She competes in class 3 category.

There are 11 classes in total (five sitting, six standing): TT1-5 are for wheelchair athletes, TT6-10 are for standing athletes and TT11 is for athletes with intellectual impairments.