Jessy (Junjian) Chen has not only found solace through sport but has quickly risen through the ranks to become one of the best Para-table tennis players in the Oceania region. Jessy, originally from southern China, moved to the Solomon Islands with his family in 2006 as a teen. Shortly after their arrival racial tensions escalated and many Chinese-owned businesses were attacked, Jessy’s family being one of them. He was struck with a machete, suffered massive blood loss and a heart attack. Jessy was airlifted to Australia and diagnosed a quadriplegic. Jessy was in hospital for over a year, followed by …
Read MoreJessy (Junjian) Chen has not only found solace through sport but has quickly risen through the ranks to become one of the best Para-table tennis players in the Oceania region.
Jessy, originally from southern China, moved to the Solomon Islands with his family in 2006 as a teen. Shortly after their arrival racial tensions escalated and many Chinese-owned businesses were attacked, Jessy’s family being one of them.
He was struck with a machete, suffered massive blood loss and a heart attack. Jessy was airlifted to Australia and diagnosed a quadriplegic. Jessy was in hospital for over a year, followed by a three-month stint at the Royal Rehabilitation Centre where he had to learn to move again while learning to speak English.
Table tennis became a source of rehabilitation too.
In 2017, Jessy represented Australia for the first time at the Oceania Championships, he won two gold medals.
At the 2019 ITTF Oceania Para Championships, Jessy won gold in the singles class 3-category.
He then went on to win four titles at the Australian Para National Championships, unfortunately Jessy narrowly missed out on qualifying for the 2020 Tokyo Paralympic Games.
He went on to the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham in 2022 and hopes to represent Australia at the 2024 Paris Paralympic Games.
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