PM Modi, President Kovind congratulate Bhavina Patel for Paralympic silver in table tennis

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Ram Nath Kovind congratulated table tennis player Bhavinaben Patel who won a historic silver at the Tokyo Paralympic games.

"Bhavina Patel inspires the Indian contingent and sportslovers, winning silver at #Paralympics. Your extraordinary determination and skills have brought glory to India. My congratulations to you on this exceptional achievement," tweeted President Kovind.

Patel signed off with a historic silver medal in her maiden Paralymic Games after going down 0-3 to world number one Chinese paddler Ying Zhou in the women's singles class 4 final on Sunday. The 34-year-old Patel's impressive run at the Games ended with a 7-11 5-11 6-11 loss to Zhou, a two-time gold medallist, in the women's singles summit clash which lasted 19 minutes. With this medal, Indian team opened its account at the Games.

Patel, a wheelchair player, had also suffered a loss to Zhou, one of the most decorated para-paddlers of China, in her first group stage match earlier in the week. Up against an opponent, who has five Paralympic medals to her name including gold medals in singles at Beijing and London, Patel seemed to struggle as she couldn't execute her strategy and was left to do the catch up job.