Partyka wins fourth gold medal at Paralympics

Sport360 staff 16:52 15/09/2016
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  • Natalia Partyka.

    Partyka is no stranger to breaking records at the Paralympics after becoming the youngest ever Paralympian in table tennis history when she competed in her first Paralympic Games in Sydney 2000 at the young age of 11.

    The Polish native has since gone on to win medals at Athens, Beijing and London, becoming one of the most gifted players on the table tennis circuit.

    This time around, in the highly anticipated showdown for the Women’s Singles Class 10 title, Partyka overcame the challenge of long-time rival Yang Qian (China) 11-8, 18-16, 11-5 to secure a fourth gold medal.

    “A fourth win, I’m so happy!” stated Partyka. “Playing Yang Qian it’s been close in the past. Four years ago in London it was five games, at the World Championships two years ago in Beijing it was five games again and she had one match point.”

    “Today I was prepared, I was ready and I played the best I have played in the whole tournament.”

    Croatia’s Sandra Paovic took home the Women’s Singles Class 6 Gold on her Paralympic debut with a 11-2, 11-7, 11-4 victory over Germany’s Stephanie Grebe.

    Paovic had represented Croatia at the Beijing 2008 Olympics and was ranked within the top 50 in the world before a life threatening car accident left her with limited use of her legs.

    The 33-year-old Croatian said: “I’m not a calm player who can look calm and play fantastically, I need to push myself to concentrate. I don’t move really, they all move much better than me and this is an advantage for them, so I have to push myself to be somehow movable. This is not easy as I am the only one who has a spinal cord injury.”

    “To have a spinal cord injury like me and to play standing table tennis is really difficult but if I wasn’t as crazy as I am, I don’t think I could do that,” added Paovic.

    Netherland’s Kelly van Zon, whose amazing diving shot earlier in the group stage against Turkey’s Kubra Korkut went viral, faced off with Korkut for the second time in Rio, this time in the final fight for Paralympic glory.

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