Currently India’s No. 2 (Class 4), Patel, who plays table tennis in her wheelchair, has won several gold and silver medals in national and international competitions. She comes from a village Sundhiya in Mahesana district of Gujarat. She started as a 17-year-old and today, she is an Eklavya awardee para table tennis player. reached the ranking of World Number 2, by winning Silver Medal for India in The Individual Category at the PTT Thailand Table Tennis Championship held in 2011. Her performance has been impeccable in 2013 when she won the silver medal in the women’s singles Class 4 at the Asian Para table tennis championships in Beijing. Patel was subjected to a financial crisis when Ahmedabad-based organisation Blind People’s Association (BPA) came to her rescue as they extended support to the para-athlete. The Target Olympic Podium Scheme (TOPS) also included Patel in their scheme of providing financial support to youth athletes in 2020, according to a report by the Times Of India. Read more on her here.
Patel, who has never let disability define her life on or off-court, won the Bronze Medal in International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) Asian Para Table Tennis Championship in 2017 in Beijing, China. She has represented India in as many as 15 international tournaments so far and brought home ten medals. Patel’s coach is Lalan Doshi and she is also guided by team official Tejalben Lakhia.