Table Tennis
Table tennis was included in the first Paralympic Games in Rome in 1960 and is now estimated to have more than 40 million competitive players and millions of recreational players. Table Tennis can be played standing or sitting and in singles and doubles matches. Table Tennis features in the Paralympic Games, Commonwealth Games and World Championships where athletes compete in one of eleven para classifications.
Photo © Disability Sport Wales / Riley Sports Photography. A participant taking part in a para table tennis taster session with a Table Tennis Wales coach at the 2022 Para Sport Festival.
Get Involved
To find out how to start participating in Table Tennis you can refer to the Table Tennis Wales website and the club finder.
National Governing Body for Table Tennis in Wales:
Table Tennis Wales
Website: tabletennis.wales
insport NGB Standard: Bronze Learn more about insport NGB
For more information about coaching and volunteering, please Contact Us.
Competitive Pathways
There are pathways that lead to:
Paralympic Games
Commonwealth Games
World ChampionshipsTo find out what your potential is and and for guidance in competitive pathways, please complete the Disability Sport Wales #inspireform.
Eligibility
To compete in Table Tennis in a Paralympic pathway, a person must have an eligible impairment type. The eligible impairment types for Para Table Tennis are:
- Impaired muscle power
- Athetosis
- Impaired passive range of movement
- Hypertonia
- Limb deficiency
- Ataxia
- Leg length difference
- Short stature
- Intellectual impairment
TT 1-5
Physical impairment - sitting
Class 1: These players have no sitting balance and a severely affected playing arm due to a spinal-cord lesion or polio.
Class 2: Athletes in this class also have no sitting balance, but their playing arm is less affected than described in Class 1.
Class 3: Players in this category have no trunk control, yet their arms are minimally affected by the impairment.
Class 4: Competitors have fair sitting balance and fully functional arms and hands. Their impairment may be due to a lower spinal-cord lesion or cerebral palsy.
Class 5: This class includes athletes who compete in a wheelchair but who have a normal sitting balance, arm and hand function. The athletes have the most physical functionality of those in a wheelchair.
TT 6-10
Physical impairment - standing
Class 6: Players in this class stand, yet they have severe impairments in both their arms and legs due to incomplete spinal-cord injuries, neurological conditions which affect both or one side of the body, amputations or congenital conditions. Some players even handle the racket with their mouths.
Class 7: Athletes in this class have a severe impairment of the legs or the playing arm, but less severe than those described in Class 6. For example, a player with an amputation of both arms above the elbow could compete in this category.
Class 8: Athletes with a moderate impairment of the legs or a moderately affected playing arm compete in this class. Stiffness of both knees or a below-the-elbow amputation of the playing arm are cases that qualify.
Class 9: This class is for athletes with a mild impairment that affects the legs or playing arm. Some athletes have a severe impairment of the non-playing arm, such as an amputation above the elbow. Athletes with a stiff knee or restricted range of motion in a joint of the playing arm may also compete in this class.
Class 10: Athletes with a minimal impairment compete in this category. This can include a stiff ankle or wrist of the playing arm. Players with short stature may also participate.
TT 11
Intellectual impairment
Class 11: This is for athletes with an intellectual impairment who also meet sport-specific criteria for Para-Table Tennis.
Classification information from International Paralympic Committee. Correct as of July 2023.
Photo © Paralympics GB. Tom Matthews—Welsh men's class 1 table tennis player—roars while representing Paralympics GB at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games.
