Nigeria’s trio of Chinenye Obiora, Tajudeen Agunbiade, and Olufemi Fabiyi will, on Thursday, May 23, begin battle for slots in the table tennis event of the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games as they compete at the World Qualification Tournament in Pattaya, Thailand.
From Thursday, May 23rd, to Saturday, May 25th, the tournament will see intense competition as one spot in each of the 11 men’s singles events and 10 in the women’s singles (with classes 1-2 combined) are up for grabs.
The stakes are incredibly high. Being a paralympian is an achievement that grants special status, and winning a medal elevates athletes to the status of the status of the celebrated elite. The quality of the entries in Pattaya underscores the progress made in para-table tennis over recent years.
Obiora, who narrowly missed out on the continental qualification in Egypt last year, has been drawn in Group 2 of the women’s singles class 5 alongside Sweden’s Ingela Lundback, Thailand’s Panwas Sringam, and Indonesia’s Leli Marlina.
In the men’s singles class 8, Fabiyi has been pitched against Kazakhstan’s Ali Makhulbekov, Israel’s Zeev Glikman, and Mexico’s Enrique Preza in Group 4.
Tokyo 2020 bronze medalist, Agunbiade will compete in class 9 of the men’s singles and has been drawn in Group 5 alongside Russia’s Iurii Nozdrunov and India’s Jotiram Chougule.
Among the standout competitors is Ivan Karabec of the Czech Republic. Karabec, one of the most experienced Paralympic athletes, won gold in men’s singles class 10 at the Sydney 2000 Paralympic Games. To secure his place in Paris, he must win in Pattaya.
Joining him is Chris Ryan, a gold medalist in wheelchair rugby from Tokyo 2020. Ryan, now focusing on table tennis, secured a silver medal in men’s singles class 2 earlier this year in Brazil. Competing in consecutive Paralympic Games in different sports would be a remarkable achievement.
The British team presents a strong entry in the wheelchair classes, with Tom Matthews (class 1), who won silver in Slovenia, and Jack Hunter Spivey (class 5), a bronze medalist in Tokyo. Their strong performances this year add to the excitement.
Also competing are France’s Sylvain Noel (class 3) and Slovakia’s Peter Mihalik (class 4). Noel triumphed in Kazakhstan in March, while Mihalik was a runner-up in Egypt in January.
The men’s singles standing classes feature equally formidable competitors. Chile’s Matias Pino (class 6) won in Montenegro, Iurii Nozdrunov (class 9), an independent athlete, prevailed in Kazakhstan, and Poland’s Maciej Makajew (class 11) also took top honours in Kazakhstan.
Poland’s Michal Diesler (class 7) and Chile’s Manuel Echaveguren (class 10) both achieved runner-up finishes in various international competitions earlier this year. Hungary’s Andras Csonka (class 8), a silver medalist from the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games, will also compete in Pattaya.
The women’s singles events are equally compelling, with notable names including gold medalists Nadejda Pushpasheva (class 2) and Elena Litvinenko (class 8), both independent athletes, as well as Iraq’s Hadeel Al-Waeli (class 3), Great Britain’s Megan Shackleton (class 4), and Israel’s Caroline Tabib (class 5).
Pushpasheva and Litvinenko won in Kazakhstan, while Al-Waeli triumphed in Jordan, Tabib in Poland, and Shackleton in the United States and Brazil.
Other notable competitors include Romania’s Camelia Ciripan (class 6), Argentina’s Gizelle Muñoz (class 7), Olga Komleva-Gorshkaleva (class 9), an independent athlete, Japan’s Nozomi Nakamura (class 10), and the Czech Republic’s Denisa Makurova (class 11). All have earned podium finishes this year.
Ciripan and Makurova took silver in Poland, Muñoz in Brazil, and Komleva-Gorshkaleva in Kazakhstan, while Nakamura secured bronze in Spain.
The World Qualification Tournament in Pattaya promises to be an electrifying event, with top athletes vying for their place on the grandest stage of all.