Medal Success For Aussie Para Team

The Aussie Para Team are on their way home after a successful Korea Para Open where they won a total of 2 x Gold, 2 x Silver and 2 Bronze medals. 

The most outstanding effort was by Nathan Pellissier who had earlier competed at the Taichung Para Open where he had won Gold in the Class 8 Mens Singles and Silver in the Class 8-10 Mens Teams. Nathan then joined the Aussie Para Team in Korea and added to his medals by once again winning Gold in the Class 8 Mens Singles. Nathan had recently been out of the sport for more than 12 months having had two major hip surgeries. These amazing results are a result of Nathan's hard work and determination. 

Other impressive results at the Korea Para Open included: 

• Melissa Tapper winning Gold in the Class 10 Womens Singles 
• Sam von Einem winning Silver in the Class 11 Mens Singles
• Danni Di Toro winning Bronze in the Class 4 Womens Singles 

In addition Sam von Einem partnered with FULLIN (Russia) to win Silver in the Class 11 Mens Teams and Melissa Tapper partnered with KRIABKLANG (Thailand) to win Bronze in the Class 6 - 10 Womens Teams. Connor Holdback also played his best table tennis to make it through to the quarter finals in the Class 6 Mens Singles.

Notably Nathan Pellissier and Danni Di Toro both won singles medals for the first time at an International Para event competing outside the Oceania Region.

The Aussie Para Team also included three new athletes who were competing outside the Oceania Region for the first time - namely Amanda Tscharke (Class 3), Steven Gow (Class 3) and Caleb Crowden (Class 4) and with Yaser Hussaini (Class 6), Jake Ballestrino (Class 7) and Connor Johnstone (Class 8) also competing all gained valuable experience and are keen to get back home and train even harder.

Huge credit must go to our National Para Coaches - Alois Rosario and Aleks Jakubczak, along with Patrick Wuertz who was traveling with the team for the first time as a development coach. 

Congratulations to the entire Aussie Para Team!!