Sport that puts disabled on the top table

Natalie Partyka is one of a small group of athletes, along with the likes of Oscar Pistorius, the sprinter, and Natalie du Toit, the swimmer, to have competed at both the Olympic and Paralympic Games.

DUBAI // A group of Emirati table tennis players were given a coaching clinic by one of their sport’s leading Paralympians in Dubai yesterday.

Natalia Partyka is one of a small group of athletes, along with the likes of Oscar Pistorius, the sprinter, and Natalie du Toit, the swimmer, to have competed at both the Olympic and Paralympic Games.

The Polish player is ranked No 53 in the world among able-bodied table tennis players, despite having been born with no arm below her right elbow.

She was in Dubai as part of the International Table Tennis Federation’s Dream Building initiative, which aims to promote the sport to all sections of the community.

“Table tennis is a very popular sport, almost everyone has played table tennis at least once in their life,” Partyka said at the Dubai Centre for the Disabled.

“It is a sport for everybody. It doesn’t matter if you are tall, short, fat or thin – or if you are in a wheelchair.

“It is open to all players, able or disabled. It is important to make table tennis available to both worlds, and in Arabic countries, too.

“Everybody knows how much China loves table tennis. It is important for us to try to do something to encourage more players to take it up elsewhere – in Europe, America, and even here.”

Partyka played a match against Majd Al Blooshi, the Sharjah student who is the UAE’s No 1 female table tennis player.

“There is no disability of the body, it is a disability of the mind and the perspective you have of your community and yourself,” Al Blooshi said.

“Doing a sport like this benefits the person and the community. Table tennis is a very friendly sport that can be played by anybody. This is why this is such a great thing.”