The 2020 Tokyo Paralympics start today and Table Tennis Australia have sent 11 athletes to Tokyo as part of the Paralympic Table Tennis Team with nine Victorian members in Japan ready to show the world what they can do.

In very exciting news, our own Danni Di Toro will also be co-captaining the Australian team as well as taking on the role as flag bearer during the opening ceremony.

The table tennis events begin on Wednesday August 25 and the full Tokyo schedule can be viewed here.

Check out the Victorian players that will be hitting the tables in Tokyo below.

Jake Ballestrino

Jake is one of the Co-Captains selected by Table Tennis Australia to lead the national Para-squad in Tokyo. The Braybrook member took up Para-table tennis in 2012, by 2013 he was representing Australia and won a silver medal at the 2017 Oceania Championships.

Ballestrino will be competing at the Paralympics for the first time after years of hard work and will be competing in the Class 7 category.

View Jake’s full Paralympics Australia profile here.

Danni Di Toro

Six-time Paralympian Danni Di Toro is most certainly a veteran of the Games’ and brings an amazing amount of experience to the team.

Danni is a former world class wheelchair tennis player who has won Paralympic silver and bronze as well as 10 Australian Open titles and multiple other Grand Slams. She made the switch from wheelchair tennis to Para-table tennis following her stellar career and was selected for the national team in 2016.

The Coburg superstar will be competing in the Class 4 classification. Read Danni’s full Paralympics Australia profile here.

Trevor Hirth

Six-time national para champion Trevor Hirth will become a Paralympian for the first time in Tokyo this year and the Sunbury Table Tennis Club local will be competing in the Class 6 classification.

Trevor is two-time Oceania Champion in 2013 and 2017, Belgium Open Gold winner and is a three-time World Championships representative.

After finding his talent for table tennis when he was 12 years old Trevor has been a fantastic ambassador for Para table-tennis and all abilities sport. He will be sure to inspire plenty of players and para participants to have a go at our fantastic sport when they watch him play in the Class 6 competition in Tokyo. Read his full Paralympics Australia profile here.

Rebecca Julian

This Croydon favourite competed at the Beijing 2008 and London 2012 Paralympics after first competing for Australia in 2005. She managed to take the world number 1 Kelly van Zon to a decider at the 2008 Games and is another fantastic member of the team that brings some great experience.

Rebecca also won bronze at the 2017 ITTF Para-table tennis Open in Thailand and silver at the 2019 Arafura Games in Darwin which doubled as the 2019 ITTF Para-table Tennis Oceania Championships. She will be playing in the Class 6 classification.

Read Rebecca’s full Paralympics Australia profile here.

Lina Lei

Croydon’s Lina Lei will be competing at her fifth Paralympics when she hits the tables in Tokyo this year. She’s played in every Games since Athens in 2004 where she won her first gold medal after becoming World Para Champion two years earlier when she was only 15.

She had an absolutely unbelievable run between 2006-2014, winning every gold medal available at Paralympic level as well as the World Para Championships.

After Rio, Lina came to Australia and will be representing the green and gold for the first time in Tokyo. She will be competing in the Class 9 competition.

Read her full Paralympics profile here.

Ma Lin

Croydon’s Ma Lin has been one of the most dominant forces in Para-table tennis for more than a decade. After spending his career playing for his home country China he is also representing Australia for the first time in Tokyo.

He is a four-time gold medallist across three Paralympic Games and has won five world titles as well as 11 Asian titles, just like Lei he moved to Australia following the Rio games is an extremely exciting addition to the Australian team.

Ma will be competing in the Class 9 competition. Read his full Paralympic profile here.

Nathan Pellissier

Loops’ Nathan Pellissier will be another first time Paralympian competing in Tokyo this year and will be chasing his goal of winning a Paralympic medal for Australia in the Class 8 classification.

Nathan has been putting in the work to earn his spot over the last four years. In 2017 he won gold medals at three major international championships, including the Korean Para Open and the Taiwan Para Open. In 2018 he trained in Europe and won a few more international level competitions.

Read Nathan’s full Paralympic profile here.

Melissa Tapper

Milly is one of the most well-known members of the Tokyo team after becoming the first Australian to compete at the Olympics and Paralympics in the same year when she played at Rio in 2016, a feat she will do again this year.

She reached the bronze medal match in her debut Games at London in 2012 which was the best Australian Para-table tennis performance in 28 years.

She’s represented the green and gold with pride plenty of times, including appearances at the Paralympics, Olympics, Commonwealth Games and a number of other international events. She will co-captain the team alongside Jake Ballestrino.

She will be competing in the Class 10 category. Read Milly’s full Paralympics Australia profile here.

Qian Yang

The final Victorian to represent Australia in Tokyo this year is Croydon’s Qian Yang. She won Paralympic gold and silver for China at the age of 17 at London in 2012 before claiming a further two silver medals at Rio in 2016.

Following Rio, she made the move to Australia and first pulled on the green and gold in 2019. She will be striving to bring Paralympic success to Australia with another medal this year.

Qian will be playing in the Class 10 classification. Read her full Paralympics Australia profile here.