Indian para sportspersons made the Nation proud on the National Sports Day, bagging three medals at the 16th Summer Paralympic Games in Tokyo today. The three medals featured two silver and one bronze. Table tennis player Bhavinaben Hasmukhbhai Patel won the first medal for India with a silver in women singles (Class-4) event.

The other silver was secured by Nishad Kumar in men high jump T47 with best effort of 2.06 m, while Vinod Kumar claimed the bronze with a best effort of 19.91m in mens discus throw F52 event. Both Nishad Kumar and Vinod Kumar also created new Asian record.

Gujarat para-paddler Bhavinaben Patel settled for silver after losing to Zhou Ying of China in the final 0-3 (11-7, 11-5, 11-6). Earlier in the semifinals, Bhavinaben beat reigning Paralympic silver medallist and World No 3 Zhang Miao (China) 3-2 (7-11, 11-7, 11-4, 9-11, 11-8. She, thus, became the first Indian to enter the final of a table tennis event in Paralympics.

Incidentally, Bhavinaben started her campaign on a sad note, losing to eventual champion Zhou Ying 0-3 (3-11, 9-11, 2-11) in Group-A league on August 25. But the Indian paddler bounced back into the competition winning her second league match next day against Megan Shackleton of Great Britain 3-1 (11-7, 9-11, 17-15, 13-11).

There was no looking back for Bhavinaben thereafter as she marched into the semifinals, defeating Joyce de Oliviera of Brazil 3-0 (12-10, 13-11, 11-6) in pre-quarterfinals and World No 2 Borislava Rankovic of Serbia 3-0 (11-5, 11-6, 11-7) in the quarterfinals.

An Asian medallist, 34-year-old Bhavinaben competes in Wheelchair Class-4 category where athletes have fair sitting balance and fully functional arms and hands. Their impairment may be due to a lower spinal cord lesion or cerebral palsy.

Born on 6th November 1986, Bhavinaben is serving in ESIC and has been recruited under sports quota. She got married to national-level cricketer Nakul Patel in 2017. Before the Tokyo Paralympics, she had won 5 gold, 13 silver and 8 bronze medals for India.

Para high-jumper Nishad Kumar belongs to Amb of Una District in Himachal Pradesh. Born on 3rd October 1999, Nishad competes in T47 category, which stands for unilateral upper limb impairment. His parents work in the fields to make a living. When Nishad was eight years old, his right hand got cut by a grass-cutting machine at his family farm.

Para discus-thrower Vinod Kumar competes in F52 category (Mildly weak to full elbow and wrist muscles which are required for throwing. Finger flexor and extensor muscles are non-functional, making grip of the discus difficult).

Vinod Kumar belongs to Rohtak City of Haryana. He was born on 20 July 1980. He comes from a family of Army men. His father was injured in the 1971 war. Vinod too decided to join the BSF after finishing his education. Unfortunately, during his training period in 2002 he fell off a cliff in Leh, leading to severe injuries to his legs.

Vinod was bed-ridden for close to years and during this period he lost both his parents. In 2012, once he started getting better, Vinod opened a store near Rajiv Gandhi Stadium in Rohtak. He also got married in 2014 and now has two daughters.