Paralympic Games: para table tennis, a discipline accessible to all continents
Fabien Lamirault during his match against Czech Jiri Suchanek at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games at the Metropolitan gymnasium in Tokyo on August 26, 2021. Charly TRIBALLEAU AFP
Text by: Farid Achache Follow
6 mins
A sport that began with the creation of the Paralympic Games in 1960, para table tennis welcomes athletes from all over the world to Tokyo.
This discipline remains one of the most accessible as evidenced by the team competition which began on Tuesday, August 31.
From Jordan, via Sweden, China, Australia, Norway, Brazil and Nigeria, para table tennis unites well beyond borders.
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From our special correspondent in Tokyo,
A table, two rackets and a small white ball.
Table tennis is played almost everywhere in the world.
At the Paralympic Games, this opposition sport is accessible to all forms of physical disability, standing or in a wheelchair, and hearing.
Eclipsed by the Paralympic Games between 2000 and 2012, cognitively disabled athletes can only compete in three sports in
Tokyo
, including para table tennis.
The whole planet is gathered around this sport which has its origins in England at the end of the 19th century.
Popular in Nigeria
“
I played table tennis when I was very young with friends and family. After my engineering studies, I resumed to keep in shape. As I was progressing quickly, I started to compete. Like football, table tennis is quite popular in Nigeria and I had no difficulty finding a club. I hope that all people who have a disability in Nigeria will be motivated to take up sport by seeing us on television
”, testifies Nigerian Ahmed Koleosho, 35, paraplegic, born in
Lagos
, present for the team events.
“
Table tennis is my friend, my family, my passion.
When I walk
(sic)
I think of table tennis.
When I sleep, I dream of table tennis
, ”says his compatriot Isau Ogunkunle, also a quadriplegic, who discovers the Paralympic Games with stars in his eyes.
“
It makes us proud to be here in Tokyo and I hope that at home everyone is happy to know us here,
” he adds.
The Nigerian pair beat Argentina in the round of 16.
A racquet tattoo on the arm
"
I love table tennis
", echoes a Brazilian player who is delighted to see a 50-year-old man beat a 15-year-old kid. Or to see a person who is missing a leg confront another who is missing a hand. “
There is something about the Paralympic spirit that fascinates me
.
Look, I tattooed a racket and a ball on my arm,
”laughs the young man with a leg amputation. For the love of table tennis, Paulo Sergio Salmin Filho trains in São Paulo, far from his family who live in Jaú in the state of São Paulo.
Brazil had won four medals in 2016 at home.
"
We are here to improve our performance, and do better than last time,
" he said.
So far, two representatives from Brazil have been on the podium (silver and bronze).
France shines with the little white ball
Paraplegic since a car accident in 1997, Frenchman Fabien Lamirault discovered table tennis in a rehabilitation center.
Monday, August 30, the tricolor table tennis player won his second gold medal and retained his title acquired five years ago in Rio.
As for the French table tennis team, it alone has a record of seven medals before the start of the team events, including two silver won by Léa Ferney and Matéo Bohéas, plus four bronze.
One of the images that remains of the Paralympic Games in Rio is that of the Egyptian Ibrahim Hamadtou, still present in Japan, who is able to play with a two-arm amputation.
Racket in the mouth, he uses his feet to serve.
Para table tennis is one of the first disciplines to be introduced for people with physical disabilities in the 1950s. It entered the Paralympic Games in 1960.
Despite the handicap, the matches are hotly contested at the Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium.
The practice of para table tennis does not require specific material and equipment, which is why this sport can be practiced in able-bodied clubs all over the world.
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