Para table tennis has been part of the Paralympic program since the first Games in Rome in 1960. Back then, only wheelchair athletes competed.
Table tennis has a longer history at the Paralympic Games than its Olympic counterpart, having debuted at the 1988 Seoul Olympics. Table tennis is the third most played Paralympic sport, with more than 40 million competitive players in more than 100 countries worldwide.
This para sport was open to wheelchair athletes from the inaugural 1960 Games to the Toronto 1976 Paralympic Games, and since then it has been practiced by athletes with a wide range of impairments, who are classified into 11 classes based on their physical and intellectual impairments.
China is the dominant force in para table tennis, topping the Tokyo medal table and winning more than half the gold medals on offer. Among the other Asian teams in Paris will be Najlah Al Dayyeni of Iraq, who secured her place at Paris 2024 during the Hangzhou 2022 Asian Para Games in the women’s class 6 category, where she scored seven straight points in the third set to seal an 11-7, 12-10, 11-7 victory.
The athlete was drawn to the sport by chance in 2015, when a Para table tennis coach in Iraq was looking for players who wanted to play the sport. The coach visited her home and saw potential in her. After training for three years, she joined a national league and represented her country internationally.
Representing Thailand, Rungroj Thainiyom is expected to make an excellent appearance in the men’s class 6 category, as the athlete started playing more than 20 years ago and has since participated in four Paralympic Games. Paris 2024 would be a great opportunity to win another medal to join his gold in London 2012 and bronze in Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020.
