Bhavinaben’s struggle is now laced with silver

Star of the big screen: Villagers cheer as they watch the live telecast match between India’s Bhavinaben Patel and China’s Ying Zhou at the paddler’s village in India. — AFP

TOKYO: Shabash! Sha-bash! (Well done! Well done!) kept reverberating at the Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium Stadium as Bhavinaben Patel rallied for each point against Ying Zhou of China in the women’s table tennis singles class 4 gold medal match.

Behind the voice was her husband Nikul Patel, who was vociferously trying to egg his wife on to weather the onslaught from her Chinese opponent, who had much of the fire power to clinch gold in straight games 11-7, 11-5, 11-6.