Lin
Ma

Lin Ma has only his left arm after his right arm was amputated when he was five following a terrible accident at a zoo involving a bear. He started playing table tennis competitively about 10 years later and within three years of that, had become the gold medallist in singles and teams at the World Para Championships. Success continued at the 2008 Games in Beijing and far beyond.

Lin moved to Melbourne after the Rio Games, and registered with Table Tennis Australia. He played for Australia for the first time during the 2019 ITTF World Tour.

Donning the green and gold for the first time at a Paralympics at Tokyo 2020, Lin claimed the silver in the men’s single C9 final. 31-year-old Lin was defeated 3-1 in the final by world number one and defending Paralympic champion Laurens Devos (BEL). The medal was his second silver medal, adding to his extensive collection of four golds and one silver, between individual and team events, won representing his native country China.

Lin then teamed with Joel Coughlan and Nathan Pellissier in the men’s teams C9-10, finishing second to Chinese duo Hao Lian and Yi Qing Zhao to claim the silver medal. The Chinese duo of Hao Lian and Yi Qing Zhao was unstoppable from the outset, with Coughlan and Lin not allowed to settle at all in the opening doubles match. Lin faced his former China teammate from 2016, Hao Lian, in the singles match. The 26-year-old Chinese built a lead in the opening game and kept it throughout the match, never letting the Aussie make a real challenge for the win. In the end it was straight-set win for China, taking the gold medal playoff 2-0 and retaining a Paralympic title in the class they have held since 2004.