Tom and Joy Boyd Receive OAM's for Service to Table Tennis

The NSW husband and wife duo of Tom and Joy Boyd were recognised for their service to table tennis, with both receiving OAM’s.

Joy has given her life to playing, supporting and promoting the sport of table tennis. She has set the highest standard of play both as an able bodied and as an athlete with disabilities. Throughout her long and illustrious career as a player, she has continued to support and promote the game of table tennis. Joy represented NSW in the able-bodied arena for 19 years. She represented Australia in the 1969 World Table Tennis Championships in Munich and won the highly prestigious Victor Barna Award in 1972 having been undefeated in the Teams events that year.

When Joy moved to a wheelchair after having been diagnosed with a debilitating foot condition, she did not give up on the sport. She trained and worked hard to build a range of new skills and knowledge about wheelchair table tennis. Joy was chosen to represent Australia at the Commonwealth Games in 2002 and again in 2006.  She won a bronze medal in the Wheelchair Class at the 2002 Games and to date no other Australian wheelchair athlete has achieved as much.

Tom Boyd has been playing table tennis all his life but his main contributions to the sport have happened in the Veterans arena. Tom began to make his mark in his fifties. He was the No 1 seeded player in NSW Teams from 1984 to 2016 where he led NSW Teams to many medal victories. Tom won gold medals in the 0/50 Men’s Singles in 1987, the 0/60s in 1989, the 0/70s in 2000 and 2001, the 0/75s in 2004, 2005, 2006 and 2010 and the 0/80s in 2009, 2011 & 2015. In addition, Tom was successful in many Men’s Doubles and Mixed Doubles events.

In 2016, Tom’s final year of competition at the age of 87, he won 89% of his singles matches in the 0/80 Men’s Teams and took out the bronze medal in the 0/80 Men’s Singles. Tom’s amazing achievements over a long period in Veterans table tennis are remarkable.

Together, Joy and Tom have played and supported table tennis at National, State and regional levels. They worked together to establish the first National Veterans Championships in Hobart in 1984 and helped it grow to be the largest and most successful table tennis competition in Australia with over 400 entrants annually.

Upon retirement to the south coast of NSW, Tom and Joy established the Kiama Table Tennis Club in 2003. The focus of the club is to encourage older players to take up a bat to enhance their physical fitness and social enjoyment of the game. Tom and Joy continue to make a significant contribution to table tennis there and are much loved for it.

Congratulations to Tom and Joy Boyd on the receipt of the Order of Australia in 2021. The sport of table tennis is the richer for their contribution. 

- Commonwealth Games Australia article: click here.
- Illawarra Mercury article: click here.