Triple representation of Greek table tennis at the Deaf Olympic Games

From November 15-26, the 25th Summer Deaf Olympic Games will be held in Tokyo and will host thousands of athletes from 22 sports.

With a long history in the institution, table tennis is, of course, among them and Greece will have the joy of triple representation for the first time. Alexandros Tatasopoulos, Gerasimos Zafiratos and Dimitris Papadimas will compete in Japan.

All will participate in a total of three of the seven events of the tournament. In the men’s singles, team and doubles, while the program still includes the same competitions for women, as well as the mixed doubles.

The table tennis matches will be held 18-24/11.

In the Hellenic Deaf Sports Federation, Tatasopoulos has a card in the Deaf Sports Association of Piraeus and Islands (A.S.K.P.N.). He had also taken part in the immediately preceding Olympic Games in 2022 in Brazil, while he is also competing in the E.F.O.E.P.A. with the association of Athena Magoufana.

Zafiratos in E.O.A.K. he has a card in the Sports and Cultural Club of the Deaf of Macedonia (A.P.O.K.M.) and Papadimas in the Panathletic Club of the Deaf (P.O.K.).

The head of the mission will be the federal coach in EOAK, Christos Vatsaklis, while Dimitris Zafiratos, an experienced athlete of A.O., will also go to the Japanese capital as a training assistant. Carea at E.F.O.E.P.A. and brother of Gerasimos.

Both the three athletes and the participation in three events are record numbers in the country’s table tennis institution. The Greek team enters the last two weeks of its preparation in Pefki and will depart from Athens on 11/13.

The Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium, which will host the tournament, will officially open for training on Sunday 16/11, while the opening day on 18/11 will feature the mixed doubles.

A total of 36 countries will be represented in table tennis, a clearly large number. There was no participation restriction in any of the competitions.