ITTF Oceania Para development officer Christian Holtz has praised the Fiji Table Tennis Association on hosting the biggest para event in the Oceania region.

The Oceania Para Championship will start on April 13-16 at the Vodafone Arena with players from 11 countries taking part.

Holtz said this is a huge achievement for Fiji hosting that many countries in the para category.

“So we are expecting 53 players, the majority of them males and we even have players from Guam who had to travel 30 hours to be here,” he said.

“It’s a huge accomplishment for Fiji to be able to host such an amazing event and it is great to know that Fiji is able to host such events. It is a beautiful country and some of the players have not been here before so it is a good experience for them.

“Fiji, I think is the best location to hold such an event and I know for a fact that a lot of the players are looking forward to the competition next week.”

Holtz said sport is able to give persons with disability a chance to improve life and get them to do certain things that an able bodied person is able to do.

“People with disabilities, normally when compared to able bodied people they have less access to sport and less access to leisure. So sport has the wonderful ability to transcend barriers or as we like to say smash down barriers. So it’s a huge opportunity to promote the social inclusion of people with disabilities and even to use sport as a way to improve lives of people with disabilities.

“This will definitely open people’s minds and change their way of thinking that even though they have a disability, they are still able to accomplish what they want but they need to believe in themselves and work hard.”

Edited by Leone Cabenatabua

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