At 130 the final declarations of participation for the Greek Para Open 2023 of Kefalonia

Seven months since last autumn, Kefalonia is preparing to repeat the organization of the international table tennis tournament for athletes with disabilities, following in the footsteps of last year’s successful venture and to write a new brilliant page in the history of the Greek sports movement of the A.M.A.

The second international Open of Kefalonia will be held in the three days of 28-3004 and will be the fifth in the series of Para Events of the world federation for 2023. The venue will be this year Argostoli and the “Antonis Tritsis” indoor gym, which already shows significant experience in Olympic sport events.

Ten days before the start, the preparation is feverish, as the final entries have reached 130, together with coaches and attendants the participants will be around 200 and come from 22 countries from all over the world.

The organizer is the National Sports Federation of Persons with Disabilities, in collaboration with the Hellenic Philatelic Table Tennis Federation, the municipality of Kefalonia, the Regional Unit of Kefalonia and Ithaca and the local A.S.E.A. Kefalonia and Ithaki, which is a member of E.F.O.E.P.A. and has been contributing the most since last year to the realization of this venture.

The 130 entries in the ITTF Fa20 Greek Para Open 2023, as it is internationally titled, are divided into 95 men and 35 women. Also, 36 athletes are from the wheelchair categories and 94 from the standing categories. The tournament includes singles and doubles events.

The entries from Greece will be nine, with six men and three women. Cyprus will also have three competitive appearances for men and, from then on, the following countries will have athletes: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Spain, France, Great Britain, Hong Kong, Iraq, Israel, Italy, Japan, Kazakhstan , South Korea, Nigeria, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Ukraine and Uruguay.

The Organizing Committee of the Open is made up of the mayor of Argostoli, Theofilos Michalatos (chairman), the president of E.A.OM.-A.Me.A., Ioanna Kariophylli (vice-chairman), the president of E.F.O.Ep. A., Kostas Papageorgiou, the Deputy Governor of Kefalonia and Ithaca, Stavros Travlos, the Deputy Mayor of Technical Services of Argostoli, Dionysis Minetos, the vice president of A.S.E.A. Kefalonia and Ithaca, Victor Rouhotas, and the member of the Board of Directors of E.A.OM.-A.Me.A. and responsible for ]National teams, Konstantinos Siachos (members).

This year, Polychronis Politsis, coach of A.S.E.A., is the director of competitions. Kefalonia and Ithaca and a former international athlete for people with disabilities. Brazilian Edmilson Pinheiro was appointed competition manager by the ITTF and Finnish Asko Rasinen as referee.