Thomas Siniecki, Media365: published on Wednesday 25 August 2021 at 22:37
Ibrahim Hamadtou, since Rio 2016, is one of the Paralympic figures. This Egyptian table tennis player, without arms, holds his racket between his teeth to play. Or how to push the determination to the end of its history …
You may have already seen him five years ago, during the Paralympic Games in Rio: the Egyptian table tennis player Ibrahim Hamadtou, 48, plays armless, racket in mouth, and throws the serve ball with his foot ! Amputated after a train accident at the age of ten, he first “tried to use the racket under his arm”, as he explained to the International Paralympic Committee: “Then I continued trying to ‘other techniques, but it still wasn’t that. So I tried with my mouth. I want to tell everyone that nothing is impossible, and that everyone should work hard for what they love and what he thinks is good for you. Disability is not the arms or the legs, it is not persevering to do what you love. “
For France TV, he used this comparison to visualize his imaginative way of playing: “Like looking for something with a lamp and having your hands full.” In 2016, his British opponent David Wetherill – who leans on a crutch – called him a “legend of table tennis”: “With all that, he puts things in perspective.” Eleventh in individual and ninth in doubles in Rio, Hamadtou was dominated for his first match in Tokyo, defeated in three sets by South Korean Hong-Kyu Park (11-6, 11-4, 11-9). But all hopes of qualifying are not yet lost. He will rely in particular on the example of his idol Cristiano Ronaldo, whose perseverance and capacity for work he admires. (according to information from Onda Cero).-–
