Mui Wui Ng to ‘fight’ for medals at table tennis Worlds

Hong Kong’s Paralympic table tennis bronze medallist Mui Wui Ng will be one of the faces to watch at the 2017 International Federation for Intellectual Impairment Sport (World Intellectual Impairment Sport) World Table Tennis Championships from 23 October.

The 20-year-old made a name for herself by beating defending champion Ka Man Wong to bronze in the women’s singles at Rio 2016.

Now Ng has her sights set on equalling or even improving her performance on the World Championships stage as her career takes on momentum.

“My aim for the Championships is to gain more competition experience and at the same time, striving for my best performance and fighting for medals,” she said. “There are lots of competitive players. If I have to win a game, I have to be focused and put my best effort during the games.”

Whilst the pair are rivals on the table, Ng has learnt a lot from Wong. With travelling and training together, they have also become like family:

“Wong is my long time teammate and like a big sis of mine in the team. We know about the style of play of each other very well. She is also an experienced player who won a Paralympic medal before.”

Ng first started playing table tennis in 2005 after a teacher suggested she try it. When she was a child she found it difficult to communicate with others, something that the sport has helped her to overcome.

“Table tennis training provides me with a platform to meet new people, coaches and teammates, which increases the chance for me in communicating with others at different occasions,” she said. “Now, I have become more courageous to talk and spell out my ideas during training and in public, which in turn helps improve training indirectly too.”

The 2017 World Intellectual Impairment Sport World Table Tennis Championships in Hradec Kralove, Czech Republic, will feature around 65 players from 14 countries between 23-27 October. As well as athletes with an intellectual impairment, it will also be the first World Intellectual Impairment Sport competition to trial new eligibility groups for Down’s syndrome and autism.

Updates will be available at the World Intellectual Impairment Sport website, Facebook and Twitter throughout the competition. Results will be published at the official event website.