Para-table tennis first-timer wins silver

 VERO Paul had never held a table tennis racquet (or bat) in her life until Sunday when she was asked to take part in the para-table tennis competition.

The 23-year-old wheelchair-bound woman had to go through a rapid introduction of the sport in a day before taking on more experienced opponents.

And for her efforts, the local Papua New Guinean came out with a silver medal.

Paul, who is a shot-put athlete, lost to Fiji’s Merewalesi Roden 3-0 last night in the gold medal play-offs.

“I was asked on (Sunday to take part in table tennis without any experience of any kind,” she said.

“I had only one day for training and on Tuesday, I played in the para-table tennis play-offs.

“I am proud and happy to have achieved this. 

“For six years I have been part of the para field events; I only competed in the PNG Games in which I won five medals in shot-put – three silver and two gold.” 

Paul took a liking for shot-put in 2009 when she was selected to represent Chimbu in East New Britain during the PNG Games.

“This is a dream come to be part of this event,” Paul said.

“I was just picked to come and play, even though it was a short notice to participate in this event I really enjoyed myself.

“I did panic when I was at the table. It all changed when supporters started cheering, especially the Team PNG supporters. 

“They gave me the confidence to go through this game.”

Team manager Arvn Rao said Paul played very well, however, Roden was a more experienced player.

“Being new to the game, Paul has done us proud and did very well to fight for some points,” Rao said. 

“There were two women’s seated competitors from the Solomon Islands and Fiji so we got Paul to give some competition. 

“Paul caught on very easily and she grasped the game and did a fantastic performance.” 

In the men’s seated singles, Tumala Iwakie, who is wheelchair-bound and a field events PNG representative, lost to Fiji’s Iakoba Taberanibou in the gold medal play-off.

Rao said: “Iwakie was asked to participate in the sport game because there were no competitors in the men’s event, only one from Fiji in the seated category so we wanted to have a competitor in the gold medal play-off.