HISTORY OF PARA 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.

Ibrahim Hamadtou of Egypt competes in the men's singles Table Tennis - Class 6 at the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games. — There were 29 table tennis medal events contested at Rio 2016

Para table tennis is the third largest Paralympic sport in terms of athlete numbers and is practiced in more than 100 countries. The sport is governed by the International Table Tennis Federation through the International Para Table Tennis Committee (IPTTF).

Athletes from all physical impairment groups, aside from the vision impaired, can compete in standing or sitting classes. Intellectually impaired athletes can also compete.

Men and women can participate in individual, doubles or team events. Matches consist of five sets of 11 points each and are played in a best-of-five format.

At the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games, 276 athletes competed in 29 medal events.