Perth Voice Interactive

THE humble Carmel Gym in Yokine was home to the Australian National Para Table Tennis Championships this week.  The Maccabi table tennis club hosted competitors with disabilities from Australia, Fiji, New Caledonia and New Zealand, as well as Thai medalist Rungroi Thainiyom who won gold at London in 2012.

There were wheelchair divisions, standing, deaf and for the first time a visually impaired event known as “Swish”. Developed for blind people, it’s a variation on the normal game with the ball being hit under the net: it has to travel along the surface of the table, and the ball has bells in it and is a little bigger. WA player Connor Johnstone won a gold, two silver and one bronze medal, and Lennard Properjohn picked up the junior male special perpetual award. And while the official team announcement’s still pending, five of the Australian athletes present have qualified for the Rio paralympics.