This is Natalia Partyka, table tennis player from Poland,who was born without a right hand and forearm, but still managed to qualify for the current London Olympics!
The 23 year old has already beaten Denmark's Mie Skov 4-3 in her game yesterday! Now faces Jie Li of the Netherlands in Sunday's third round.
Natalia Partyka - "When I got home last evening, my father was waiting for me with a recording he did especially for me. (He has been really involved in this entire project since we started it) I really didn’t know what it was so I imagined it was another one of the “How it’s made” shows on Discovery."
Meet Natalia Partyka, a Polish table-tennis player born in 1989. She participates both in competitions for fully bodied athletes as well as in competitions for athletes with disabilities. Not to mention that she is part of the Polish national Olympic team.
Natalia won her first table tennis medal in an international competition in 1999, at the disabled World Championship. She also competed in the 2000 Summer Paralympics in Sydney and two gold medals at the European Championships for Cadets, organised by the International Table Tennis Federation, organised for fully bodied athletes.
A great achievement for her was participating in the 2008 Summer Olympics and Paralimpics in Beijing.
The match I got to see last night was between Natalia and Bernadette Szőcs who represented our country, Romania. As disappointed as I am of Bernadette’s loss, I couldn’t help but to be extremely proud of Natalia, who, with a missing limb managed to defeat Bernadette with a gross difference. Even though I’m sad about my country’s loss I am definitely most happy to see disabled people make such a difference!
Edited By Cen Fox Post Team
