Australian team readies for Spanish Para Open

The Spanish Para Open is set to get underway from 24 to 26 March in Platja dÁro, Spain and marks the first international event for Australia’s National Para Team in 2022.

In a tight schedule, Australia’s players will need to come out firing from the get-go with all singles matches including finals to take place over the course of two days (24-25 March), with doubles on Saturday. 

Jessy Chen will be the first Australian at the table for the Men’s Singles Class 3 when the competition gets underway later today, before West Australia’s Lenny Properjohn makes his international debut in the Men’s Singles Class 6 where he’ll take on Tokyo 2020 Paralympian Matteo Parenzan of Italy. 

National team co-captain Nathan Pellissier, who will face Great Britain's three-time Paralympic bronze medallist Ross Williams, is excited to be playing in Spain.

“I was lucky enough to play the Para French Open late last year so I have been working hard on the weaknesses in my game since then to perform at my best in Spain,” the Tokyo 2020 silver medallist said.

“My aim is to transfer what I have been working on in training to pressure matches, which hopefully results in some good performances. 

“I think it will be a good start to 2022 to assess where I am at and what I need to do before the Commonwealth Games,” Pellissier added.

Ma Lin, Caleb Crowden and Chris Addis will also play in their various Men’s Singles group matches today. Meanwhile, Amanda Tscharke and Danni di Toro, along with Paralympic gold medallist Li Lei and Qian Yang, will all feature in the women’s singles.

National team co-captain Melissa Tapper, who will face dual Olympic and Paralympic star Natalia Partyka in her first round clash, is looking forward to competing internationally again with the squad.

“My biggest aim is to compete and do my best to have a tournament under my belt for qualification towards the Para World Championships,” she said. “I’ve really enjoyed having a lot of the squad back in the country at training which has definitely motivated me to get back into the hall.”

After the singles events, players will take to the table for the doubles event where Australia will play men’s, women’s and mixed divisions across several classifications.

Keep up-to-date with all the Spanish Para Open results via the ITTF website here.

Check out the live stream of tables 5, 9 and 13 here.