The Australian National Para Championships were held at Mornington Peninsula Table Tennis Club over the past week, with 19 Victorians representing the state in Table Tennis, and for the first time, 14 Victorians representing the state in the Swish trial events for the visually impaired. The event proved very popular with players, and welcomed a wide array of talent from around Australia and even from Thailand and Indonesia, with representative sides from the region creating a very talented field for all events.

There were some great results for some of our Victorians, with 11 Gold Medals from the event, along with 11 Silvers and 16 Bronze Medals to round off a successful week.

Some of the standouts included Olympian Melissa Tapper, who took home 2 Golds and a Silver from her 3 events, and was also awarded the Class 6-10 Shield for being adjudged the Best and Fairest. Jake Ballestrino was also awarded the Class 6-10 Shield for the Males, after winning the Class 7 Singles and the Teams event with Trevor Hirth. Trevor also won 3 Golds and a Bronze, while Nathan Pellissier also took home 2 Gold medals including the U23 Standing Singles. Rory Carroll also took home a gold medal with Sam Von Einem in the Men’s Doubles Class 11 along with a Silver medal in the Class 11 singles, while it was fantastic to see so many medals in the Swish events.

A full list of the Victorian Winners is below, congratulations to everyone who competed!

Gold

Melissa Tapper – Women’s Open Standing Singles

Trevor Hirth/David Jacobs (INA) – Men’s Open Standing Doubles

Melissa Tapper/Andrea McDonnell (QLD) – Women’s Open Standing Doubles

Rory Carroll/Sam Von Einem (SA) – Men’s Doubles (Class 11)

Liz Sullivan/Michael Fogarty – Swish Doubles (Visually Impaired)

Trevor Hirth – Men’s Singles (Class 6)

Jake Ballestrino – Men’s Singles (Class 7)

Nathan Pellissier – Men’s Singles (Class 8)

Melissa Tapper – Women’s Singles (Class 9-10)

Nathan Pellissier – Class Junior U23 Standing Singles (Class 6-10)

Trevor Hirth/Jake Ballestrino – Men’s Class 6-7 Team

Silver

Rory Carroll – Men’s Singles (Class 11)

Daniela Di Toro/Amanda Tscharke (SA) – Women’s Open Wheelchair Doubles

Barak Mizrachi/Connor Johnstone (WA) – Men’s Open Standing Doubles

Nathan Pellissier/Melissa Tapper – Mixed Open Standing Doubles

Tim Bird/Jonathan Tan (NSW) – Men’s Doubles (Class 11)

Sy Pham – Men’s Singles (Class 7)

Barak Mizrachi – Men’s Singles (Class 8)

Rebecca Julian – Women’s Singles (Class 6-8)

Michael Fogarty – Men’s Swish Singles (Visually Impaired)

Rochelle Byers – Women’s Swish Singles (Visually Impaired)

Marco Currelago/Cassie Embling – Swish Doubles (Visually Impaired)

Bronze

Catherine Morrow – Women’s Open Wheelchair Singles

Daniela Di Toro – Women’s Open Wheelchair Singles

Barak Mizrachi – Men’s Open Standing Singles

Tim Bird – Men’s Singles (Class 11)

Graeme Walters/Caleb Crowden (SA) – Men’s Open Wheelchair Doubles

Rosalie Turnbull/Hayley Sands (SA) – Women’s Open Wheelchair Doubles

Graeme Walters/Rosalie Turnbull – Mixed Open Wheelchair Doubles

Trevor Hirth/Thepmoya Wachiraporn (THA) – Mixed Open Standing Doubles

Barak Mizrachi/Andrea McConnell (QLD) – Mixed Open Standing Doubles

Yash Vyas/Brady Harrison – Men’s Doubles (Class 11)

Daniela Di Toro – Women’s Singles (Class 3-5)

Catherine Morrow – Women’s Singles (Class 3-5)

Nathan Pellissier/Connor Johnstone (WA) – Men’s Class 8-10 Teams

Michael Curralego – Men’s Swish Singles (Visually Impaired)

Robyn Bousie – Women’s Swish Singles (Visually Impaired)

Peter Fletcher/Mark Muscat (QLD) – Swish Doubles (Visually Impaired)

Shields (Best and Fairest)

Male Class 6-10 – Jake Ballestrino

Female Class 6-10 – Melissa Tapper