News
Para Stars Selected to Finalise the 2022 Birmingham Table Tennis Team!
Published Mon 30 May 2022
The Para-table tennis team for the 2022 Birmingham Commonwealth Games has been selected, completing the 14 strong Australian Table Tennis squad heading to the Games in July.
Four of the six Para players selected are from Victoria adding to the quartet of able bodied players who have already booked their tickets.
Seven-time Paralympian Danni Di Toro who has amassed a spectacular career, and now achieves another special milestone as she heads to her first Commonwealth Games said;
"I have loved watching the Commonwealth Games from a far during my sporting career and it is amazing that I now have the opportunity to be on the Australian Team in Birmingham," she said to Commonwealth Games Australia.
"It is awesome to have both the Para and able-bodied Team Members unified in the one Australian Team and being in the same villages and sharing stories and experiences with one another at the Games.
"We have assembled a great Table Tennis team, and I know we are all going to give it our best over there in Birmingham."
Joining Di Toro are three Victorians who are also making their Commonwealth Games debuts, Dandenong’s Lin Ma, Qian Yang and Lina Lei, who are all aiming for gold medal results in Birmingham. The Vic trio have a combined haul of 23 Paralympic medals and are familiar with the pressures of international competition having represented Australia at the Tokyo Paralympics, where Qian Yang and Lina Lei claimed gold medals and Lin Ma won silver.
The four Victorian debutants will be joined by New South Wales’ Jessy Chen and South Australia’s Amanda Tscharke in the Para-squad as well as experienced campaigners Chris Yan and Tracy Feng in the able-bodied squad.
The six athletes selected in April were Queensland’s Min Hyung Jee, New South Wales’ Yangzi Liu and Victoria’s Jian Fang Lay, Nicholas Lum, Dillon Chambers and Finn Luu.
TTA CEO Scott Houston welcomed today’s selection of remaining Table Tennis Australia athletes to make for a unified team heading to Birmingham.
“We are delighted to be sending a record 14 athletes to the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham and we welcome the announcement of the final eight team members today,” Houston said to Commonwealth Games Australia.
“Our six Para-athletes will all be making their Commonwealth Games debuts, while for Chris and Tracy it will be their third and second consecutive Commonwealth Games appearances respectively. We know all Team Members are ready to take on the best players in the Commonwealth.
“On behalf of Table Tennis Australia, we celebrate the eight Team Members selected today and the entire table tennis delegation. Having both able-bodied and Para-athletes representing Australia as a unified table tennis team is something that TTA and the Australian table tennis community can be proud of. We can't wait to be cheering for them all in Birmingham."