Table tennis

The sport has been part of the Paralympic programme since the first edition of the Games in Rome 1960. Despite the sport’s long history, Paralympic table tennis only made it to Brazil in 1995, when the Brazilian Paralympic Committee (CPB) was created. Regardless of its short lived history in the country, Brazilian Paralympic table tennis players Francisco Eugênio Braga, Luiz Algacir and Maria Luiza Pereira competed in the Atlanta Games in 1996.

Brazil has won a silver medal in the sport, brought home by Welder Knaf and Luiz Algacir Silva in Beijing 2008, in the team event.

Classification

Athletes are divided into eleven different classes. The higher the number of the class, the lower the level of an athlete’s physical and motor impairment. Athletes are classified in reference to their reach, muscle strength, locomotion restrictions, how much balance they have in a wheelchair and ability to hold the racket.

TT1, TT2, TT3, TT4 and TT5
Wheelchair users

TT6, TT7, TT8, TT9, TT10
Athletes who can walk

TT11
Athletes who can walk and with intellectual disabilities

Curiosities

The rise of the Chinese

Paralympic table tennis gives out a lot of medals at  every edition of the Games. For example, in London 2012 a total of 87 medals were awarded.  In London 2012, the Chinese athletes won a total of 21 medals in the sport, 14 gold, 5 silver and 2 bronze.

See also

Brazilian Table Tennis Confederation
www.cbtm.org.br

International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF)
www.ittf.com