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Riding a high from the women’s doubles gold medal won by Lina Lei and Qian Yang the previous night, Nathan Pellissier, Jessy Chen and Danni Di Toro put up valiant fights against higher ranked opponents but ultimately fell short.
Di Toro, Australia’s most capped Paralympian in Paris, said she would use the experience of the Games to continue to build the foundation for Los Angeles 2028.
The veteran who has now worn green and gold at eight Games was beaten 3-0 by the former world No.1 Ying Zhou of China.
“When you get to play women of this calibre in these environments, it gives you a lot of confidence that you’re actually on the right path,” Di Toro said.
Chen also lost in straight games, to Youngbok Baek of Republic of Korea, while Pellissier started strongly but ended with a 3-1 loss to Slovakia’s Richard Csejtey.
Nine other Australians are still alive in their singles draws, six of whom will play their first match on Monday.
Meanwhile, with a gold medal in the bag, there is a noticeable positive energy circulating through the Australian table tennis camp.
The nation’s first gold medallists in a doubles event at a Paralympic Games in 60 years, Lina and Qian both have byes to start their singles campaign, so on Sunday took up their seats in the crowd – the front row, of course – so their competing teammates could hear their cheers.
The roles were reversed less than 24 hours earlier, when they got the better of the top seeds from Chinese Taipei.
“Qian and Lina played so beautifully and in times where that mattered so much,” said Di Toro, who said of her loss to Ying Zhou that: “When you get to play women of this calibre in these environments, it gives you a lot of confidence that you’re actually on the right path.”
Of Di Toro’s eight Paralympic Games appearances, five were competing in wheelchair tennis before making the switch to table tennis after 2012.
In that time, she has not been a stranger to success. A Paralympic silver in the wheelchair tennis doubles (Sydney 2000) and a bronze in the singles (Athens 2004) is in her list that includes several world championships medals.
But for 49-year-old Di Toro there is still more to achieve and the whole Paris experience – including what her teammates achieve – is part of laying the foundations for more.
“It’s always really inspiring, like it makes me want to just train harder and be better,” she said.
Teammate Pellissier competed at Tokyo where the stands were silent, a stark contrast to the group of his friends and family cheering on every point in the South Paris Arena.
He started strongly but was beaten 3-1 by the powerful hitting Slovak, Csejtey.
Chen’s maiden Paralympics ended with “I hope to see you next time” in reference to LA 2028.
But before then, there is still more to come in Paris for Australia’s largest Paralympic table tennis team since 1968.
Nine other Australians are still alive in their singles draws, six of whom play their first match on Monday.
RESULTS
Women’s Singles (WS4) R16: CHN ZHOU Ying def AUS DI TORO Danni 11-5, 11-2, 11-6.
Men’s Singles (MS3) R32: KOR BAEK Youngbok def AUS CHEN Jessy 11-7, 11-5, 11-5
Men’s Singles (MS8) R32: SVK CSEJTEY Richard def AUS PELLISSIER Nathan 7-11, 11-8, 11-2, 11-6
By: Laurie Lawira, Paralympics Australia
