Bhavina Patel ensured Indian table tennis ended Day 9 of the Commonwealth Games 2022 with a gold medal, after she won the women singles Para TT Classes 3-5 event in Birmingham on Saturday.

The 35-year-old, who won silver at the Tokyo Paralympics last year, was a heavy favourite to win gold and she didn’t disappoint, coming up with a 12-10, 11-2, 11-9 win over Nigeria’s Ifechukwude Ikpeoyi.

CWG 2022: Day 9 Blog

After a tight first game, Bhavina started to dictate terms, moving the ball freely towards either corner of the table and drawing errors from her opponent.

Ifechukwude did come back strong in the third game, leading 9-5. But that’s when Bhavina started to show her experience and won the next six points in a row before claiming the gold.

Sonal wins bronze

Sonalben Patel came up with a strong win over England’s Sue Bailey to claim the bronze medal in the Para Table Tennis women’s singles classes 3-5 event, coming up with a 11-5, 11-2, 11-3 win.

The Indian went for accurate angled shots that gave Bailey no chance at putting the ball back in play. She settled into a rhythm very early and started to put in a masterclass of sharp and quick serves into either corner of the table that gave the Englishwoman no chance.

So strong was Sonalben’s attacking game that Bailey could not mount any hope of a comeback, as the Indian secured a spot on the podium.

Earlier, Raj Alagar came up against World No 11 Isau Ogunkunle of Nigeria in the bronze medal match of the men’s singles class 3-5 event.

But it was the Nigerian who came up with a strong 3-0 win, beating the Indian 11-3, 11-6, 11-9. There was a brief spell of resistance from Alagar in the third game, but Ogunkunle powered his way through to the bronze.