Table Tennis draw unveils tough match-ups for Australian players

The opponents of the Australian Para-table tennis team were finally unveiled last night as the official draw determined the the preliminary stages of the Men’s and Women’s Singles at the Tokyo Paralympic Games.

It was long-awaited news for our record-breaking 11 Paralympians, who can now dedicate the remaining time before competition begins on Wednesday to finalising their match strategies.

“All players were really chomping at the bit to get their draws.” said Australian Head Coach Alois Rosario after the presentation. “Now that they have their matchups, they can really hone in on their opponents in the groups. 

“We had a good training session yesterday and we’ll do plenty of analysis today, so that everybody will hopefully be in the best position to go out there on day one and give it their all.”

The outcome of the draw was particularly interesting for some of our top players, further fueling Paralympic rivalries as Lin Ma and Melissa Tapper match up with the same opponents who inflicted them painful defeats at the Rio 2016 Games.

In the Men’s Class 9, 4-time Paralympic Gold medallist Lin Ma will be up against Italian Mohamed Kalem, who won Bronze in 2016.

“Lin Ma has been thinking a lot about this rematch. It was a bit of an unexpected outcome in Rio, so this time he is really focused on how he can turn that result around,” Rosario said.

Melissa Tapper will square off against Bruna Costa Alexandre of Brazil, who denied the Australian a chance to medal five years ago, in the Women’s Class 10.

“Melissa has also been looking to come up against Bruna again. She lost to her in the bronze medal Teams play-off in Rio, but that was in front of a huge Brazilian home crowd. Now she’ll have another good opportunity to show what she's got.”

According to Rosario, one of the toughest classes in the draw is the Women’s Class 9, the one which includes 5-time Paralympic gold medalist Li Na Lei.

“All players in that class are really high quality, so it’s going to be tough for our Li Na,” Rosario said. “She’ll come up against Kim of Korea, who she did beat at the Japan Open last year, but only after conceding her some match points before coming up with the goods. 

“That’s going to be a tough match, as well as the one against Karolina Pek, who’s seeded no.2 at this event.”

Rosario also said that with only a limited number of tournaments played internationally in the last 18 months, the draw might very well hide some surprises. 

“I think our advantage is that we’ve actually had a bit more preparation time, so we had a chance to sit back, have a look at the world and the level of players. We could do some digging and understand where we might be able to gain some wins during the tournament.”

With one day to go before competition begins, the atmosphere in the Australian Para-table tennis camp is buzzing with excitement. The whole squad is rallying behind Australian Paralympic Team co-captain Danni di Toro, who was yesterday announced as one of the two flag-bearers for the Opening Ceremony.

“It’s really pretty special,” Rosario agreed. “The thing that this team has gained a lot of in the last few years has been experience. We had Li Na, Lin and Qian bringing the experience that comes from winning medals, but Danni has been a big part of it as well. She contributed the huge wealth of experience coming from her wheelchair tennis career and her participation in now seven Paralympic Games.

“Bringing that into the team was huge and she’s now a bit of a mother figure for a lot of the other athletes. For them to see her recognised like that is a huge boost of morale,” Rosario said.

The Tokyo 2020 Para-table tennis competition starts tomorrow at the Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium with the Men’s and Women’s singles tournaments, followed by the team events from August 31. A total of 31 medals will be awarded, 17 for men and 14 for women, with events contested across a total of 11 classes which reflect a wide range of impairments.

📷 | Paralympics Australia

Australian athletes in action - Wednesday 25 August

• 10am AEST - Li Na Lei v Jennyfer Marques Parinos (BRA) - Class 9
• 10:40am AEST - Lin Ma v Joshua Stacey (GBR) - Class 9 
• 11:20am AEST - Rebecca Julian v Maryna Lytovchenko (UKR) - Class 6
• 12:40pm AEST - Daniela di Toro v Sandra Mikolaschek (GER) - Class 4 - [Watch on 7plus*]
• 12:40pm AEST - Nathan Pellissier v Aaron McKibbin (GBR) - Class 8 - [Watch on 7plus*]
• 2pm AEST - Trevor Hirth v Bobi Simion (ROU) - Class 6

• 5:40pm AEST - Joel Coughlan v Filip Radovic (MNE) - Class 10
• 6:20pm AEST - Melissa Tapper v Txu Yu Lin (TPE) - Class 10 - [Watch on 7plus*]
• 7pm AEST - Qian Yang v Xiaojing Zhao (CHN) - Class 10
• 7:40pm AEST - Sam von Einem v Takashi Asano (JPN) - Class 11 - [Watch on 7plus*]
• 8:20pm AEST - Jake Ballestrino v Sayed Mohamed Youssef (EGY) - Class 7 
• 9pm AEST - Li Na Lei v Karolina Pek (POL) - Class 9  - [Watch on 7plus*]

*subject to change. Check 7plus for the latest schedule.

For the full schedule of the first day of competition click here.