Para events added to S. Island championships

• Published date: 18 April 2024
• Publication title: Otago Daily Times (New Zealand)

As well as featuring plenty of top players, the tournament holds significance for a couple of extra reasons

It serves as a crucial qualification event for the selection of the New Zealand team across various age categories.

In the open and under-19 categories, the top three players from both women’s and men’s singles events will secure spots.

The under-15 category will grant the opportunity to the top two players from both girls’ and boys’ singles to represent New Zealand at the Oceania championships.

Another feature of the tournament this year is that para events have been introduced for the first time.

Both Table Tennis New Zealand and Table Tennis Otago have been working on providing opportunities for para athletes to pursue the sport.

Otago president Ben Duffy said the association held an eight-week para training programme, funded by TTNZ and Parafed Otago last...