Sports Minister Ashraf Sobhi phoned Egyptian table tennis champion Ibrahim Hamadtou to greet him on his outstanding performance at Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games.
Sobhi asserted to the Egyptian champion that President Abdel Fattah El Sisi is extending unprecedented support and care to all kinds of sports, a matter which could be a motivation for raising high the flag of Egypt at various future international sports competitions.
He told Hamadtou that he and his colleagues are a source of pride for all Egyptian athletes and sports fans and the best ambassadors for their country, praising their excellent performance and their outstanding will and persistence to achieve success and be a role model that inspires all Egyptian youths.
Hamadtou, for his part, voiced deep appreciation for the Egyptian state’s sponsoring of sports and athletes.
He also highlighted the support of the president and efforts exerted by the Egyptian government and the sports ministry to provide all facilities and special requirements for participants in the para games.
The Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games, held in the Japanese capital from August 24 to September 5, celebrated, Hamadtou.
“The Egyptian (Hamadtou) plays without arms and holds the bat in his mouth. He fires winning return shots with real power too,” the Paralympic Games tweeted, with video of Hamadtou during a game.
“Ibrahim Hamadtou shows some real table tennis talent,” it added.
On the first day of events at the Tokyo Paralympics Wednesday, Hamadtou was in action, making his second appearance at the quadrennial mega event, after Rio 2016.
Hamadtou, 48, was one of major inspirational images of the in Rio five years before, with his gameplay of holding the racket between his teeth and flicking the ball up with his foot to serve.
He plays with his bat in his mouth and uses his right foot and toes to serve.
When Hamadtou was 10 years old, he lost both arms in a train accident and decided to take table tennis as a challenge.
He was quoted as saying that it took him almost a year of practice to get used to holding the racket with mouth and making the serve. The skill was improved thanks to continued practice.
He worked as a carpenter in the Egyptian Mediterranean City of Damietta, and aspires for having his own carpentry workshop. He said he never expected that he can make such an achievement.
“In our town there were only two sports to play, table tennis and soccer. I liked soccer more but one day when I was watching a game of table tennis With two friends, at a time when they disagreed, I interceded. That’s when one told me ‘shut up, you can never play’. That phrase stirred in me and was the one that prompted me to play this sport,” confesses Hamadtou.
The Egyptian mission to the Paralympic Games includes49 athletes competing in eight sports.
In 2014, a video of Hamatdou posted by the table tennis governing body on YouTube garnered widespread fame on the internet.
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