Wheelchairs arrive, para table tennis team aim for gold in CWG

NEW DELHI - The Indian womens para-table tennis team squad is confident of winning the lone gold up for grabs at the paralympic event of the Commonwealth Games. And the athletes’ case is bolstered by the delayed arrival of their imported wheelchairs a week ago.

The members of the team - Bhavina Patel, Sonal Patel and Usha Rathore - are optimistic about their chances and said they have trained hard for the Oct 3-14 Games.

“The new wheel chairs enable us to move faster around the table. The earlier chairs were heavy, hence the movement was minimal. In addition to that, we have had several training camps in the run upto the Games and that leaves us as a strong contender for the gold medal,” Bhavina told IANS.

The head coach Raj Aravindan said the road to the podium will be tough but the team has the potential to deliver.

We have a good chance of a gold. Bhavina is the world No. 34 in the latest rankings and we have been practicing quite hard to win,” he said.

On the challenging format of the event, he said: “The league for open singles may have anything between three to five players, depending on the draw. There are five groups and as you can see, there is stiff competition since there is only one gold to fight for.”

Indias biggest challenge will come from Nigeria, England, Australia and South Africa.

When asked about the conditions and facilities at the Games Village, the team and coach expressed their satisfaction on the arrangements made.

We have been here since Sep 26 evening and all the facilities here are very good. The Organising Committee has met all our requirements, said Aravindan.

The event starts Oct 10 at the Yamuna Sports Complex.