“Never give up on life.” That is el lema de Ibrahim Elhusseiny Hamadtou, Egyptian sportsman who, without arms, has managed to become one of the best Paralympic table tennis players competing with the shovel in the mouth and contesting each ball with the movement of his head.
Hamadtou (Dumyat, Egypt, 1973) faces his second participation in the Paralympic Games in Tokyo after his contest in Rio de Janeiro. There, in the Rio de Janeiro city, he surprised the world with his way of playing.
The Egyptian table tennis player puts the ball on his foot, raises it to medium height and, cwith the gesture of his head, he sends her to the other side of the table to try to win over your rivals.
It is his way of playing and also his way of showing the world that, despite his disability, there are no barriers that prevent it.
In 1983, at the age of ten, after a train accident, he lost both arms and his life changed, but, far from collapsing, he faced adversity to get ahead.
“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 difficulty of practicing this very technical sport in which you have to use the upper extremities was a handicap at first. In fact, he tried in different ways “until he hit the key”, as he reports.
“The first thing was to play with the racket under the armpit but it was very difficult for me. Some time later I tried with my mouth and there I did improve. I found a way very effective for fast and accurate return the ball, “he says.
Hamadtou, whose idol is the Portuguese footballer Cristiano Ronaldo, always emphasizes that “disability is not in the arms or legs, but disability is not believing in what you want to do.”
its international debut occurred in 2004 representing Egypt and, nine years later, in 2013, he was nominated for the award for sports innovation Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum in Dubai and was awarded Best Arab Athlete of the Year.
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