Israeli Paralympic athletes Caroline Tabib and Alon Nigri won gold medals in table tennis at the US Para Open Championship in Las Vegas, December 13-16.
Tabib, 21, who was born paralyzed from the waist down and has been in a wheelchair all her life, beat out four competitors for the singles title and won another gold medal in the “team competition” category with her partner from Sweden.
This is not Tabib’s first win. In 2015, she won a bronze medal in the European championship and in 2016, she was chosen as a member of the Israeli delegation to the Paralympic Games in Rio. Tabib is listed as no. 6 on the Women’s Class 5 World Rankings. The International Table Tennis Federation said her win last year was “very much as expected.”
Tabib, who trains at Beit Halochem in Ramat Gan under coach Ido Ben Simchon, served in the Israel Defense Forces as a volunteer and earlier this year started her first year of academic studies.
Alon Nigri, who trains at Beit Halochem in Haifa and ranks 46th in Men’s Class 2 of the ITTF Para Table Tennis, won a gold medal in the group competition of the US Para Open together with a partner from Korea, and a bronze medal in the singles competition.
(via Israel21c)
[Photo: Israel21c ]