Iraja Nigam - wheelchair tennis — WE ARE GIRLS IN SPORT

Iraja Nigam loves tennis and we were thrilled when she agreed to write on wheelchair tennis at the Paralympics for us! Here’s her report - thanks Iraja!

Wheelchair tennis is similar to normal tennis however there are some different rules such as the ball can bounce twice before hitting it.

There are 6 categories in Paralympics wheelchair tennis - men’s, women’s and quad with both singles and doubles. Quad doubles is a mixed event. Wheelchair tennis was introduced in Paralympics from 1992 Barcelona games.

Netherlands is the most successful team in women’s Paralympics games. Since the introduction of wheelchair tennis in 1992, Netherlands have won Gold medal in all women’s singles and doubles events.

Esther Mary Vergeer from Netherlands is the most successful Paralympian. Starting in Sydney 2020 games, she won 4 consecutive singles gold medal till London 2012. She also won 3 gold and 1 silver medal in Women’s doubles event.

When I watched Lucy Shuker from Team GB practice at my club, I found this form of tennis very interesting and challenging. I was lucky to have few hits with her as well. Listening to Lucy’s inspiring story and holding her 2 Paralympics medals was an incredible experience.

In the Tokyo Paralympics 2020, Team GB women tennis team had good success. Women’s doubles pair of Jordanne Whiley and Lucy Shuker won silver medal to follow up on bronze medals from London 2012 and Rio 2016 games. This was their 4th Paralympics together and they achieved their best result. The top seeded team from Netherlands of Diede de Groot and Aniek van Koot won the women’s doubles Gold medal.

In the women’s singles event, Diede de Groot from Netherlands won the Gold medal while Yui Kamiji from Japan won silver. GB’s Jordanne Whiley won the Bronze in singles, the first singles medal won by a woman Team GB player in any Paralympics.

Congratulations Team GB!