Image: Klaus Borzek/PPP Austria
Image: vaba
Image: vaba
The clatter of 48 table tennis balls whizzing back and forth across 48 tables fills exhibition hall 6 in Wels. The players slide from left to right and place their shots accurately. No observer would guess at first glance that they all have Parkinson’s disease.
The “PingPongParkinson World Championship 2023” will take place in Wels until Saturday. Almost 300 participants from 23 nations traveled to Upper Austria. There are good reasons why table tennis is the sport of choice for many people affected by the degenerative disease all over the world: “With Parkinson’s it’s often like you freeze when you walk,” says event manager Hermine Hofner, “then you need a noise – for example, the ball hitting the ground – to get one out.”
Image: vaba
The Lower Austrian, who has Parkinson’s disease herself, is the brains behind the event. In 2022 she founded “PingPongParkinson Austria” (PPP Austria). “We try to find places in clubs for people with Parkinson’s disease or to set up our own groups. In Upper Austria, for example, there are some in Steyr, Wels and Ottensheim.” Just a few months after it was founded, PPP Austria was awarded the contract to host the World Cup. “It was a lot of work, so it’s even nicer that everything turned out well and we can play together,” says Hofner.
United in competition
For Ansuela Braunschmid it is the third PPP World Cup; she took part in Berlin for the first time in 2021. “It was a great experience. The cohesion, the nice people, the community. I’ve met some of them again in Wels, that’s a great joy,” she says. Last year she won a silver and a bronze medal in Pula, Croatia. “Of course I’m trying to do my best again this year. The question is always how the body copes. But the most important thing to me is the contact with the other participants,” says Braunschmid.
Image: vaba
Navin Kumar agrees with this. The American actor is one of the best para-ping pong players in his home country and has already won numerous medals. “The sport helps me control the shaking in my hands. There is promising research into table tennis as a therapy for Parkinson’s,” he says. He is very proud to represent his home country at the World Cup. “We don’t meet here as competitors – our enemy is Parkinson.”
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Source: Nachrichten
