Both Dhungana and Aryal are visually impaired and they were contesting in the First National Open Sound Table Tennis Tournament on Friday.[break]
Altogether 91 visually impaired people participated in the tournament organized by Nepal Table Tennis Association of the Blind. However, it was not the game only for visually impaired people as 13 players with sight also participated in the tournament blindfolded.
"The game was initially played among visually impaired people only but it could not gather attention of general people," said Sanjay Aryal, a table tennis coach at the National Sports Council. "The concept of sound table tennis evolved from Japan since 2002 April," he added.
"Be they visually impaired or with sight, all players are blindfolded. The TT board has 4.2 cm gap between table and the net. The game is played under the net with a special ball that produces sound," explained Aryal. "The blindfolded players cannot hear the sound of the ball, if played above the net."
The game provided excitement and thrill to many visually impaired people. "I played in a tournament for the first time and I won the first round match. I´m excited for the upcoming tournaments," said Dhungana.
In Dhungana´s experience, visually impaired players could do better than the players with full sight in the sound table tennis. "We do have better concentration toward sounds than the players with sight," claimed Dhungana.
Dhungana demanded for regular tournaments targeting visually impaired players. "If there would be regular tournaments, Nepali players could do well in international tournaments in the years to come," said Dhungana.
According to the association´s General Secretary Kumar Paudel, there are altogether 104 players, including 40 women, participating in the tournament.
"Around 250 to 300 visually impaired players are in the contact with the association and the participation in the first national tournament has encouraged us. We´ll make this event regular in the upcoming years," said Paudel.
According to Paudel, National Sports Concil (NSC) had provided around Rs 300,000 to the associations through Nepal Paralympics Committee.
Bhattarai, Limbu in final
Rama Bhattarai from Dharan and Shanta Kumari Limbu from Terhathum reached the final of women´s singles category of the First National Open Sound Table Tennis Tournament. Bhattarai defeated Sita Dhamala of Gorkha 11-2, 11-4 in the semifinal played at the Laboratory School, Kirtipur on Friday.
Limbu beat Krishna Dhungana of Bardiya 11-7, 11-6 in another semifinal. Meanwhile, Umesh Rai (Khotang), Bikal Thapa (Baglung), Chhatra Bahadur Tamang (Sankhuwasabha) and Jeevan Bista (Morang) reached the quarterfinals of the tournament.
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