Lin grins and bears it as glory beckons
THE naturalised Aussie table tennis star whose arm was eaten by a bear when he was just a kid is through to his second gold medal event at the Tokyo Paralympics.
Ma Lin, whose story of survival after he was attacked by a brown bear when he was growing up in China has gone global, has guided his adopted homeland into the table tennis team final with a 2-0 win over Nigeria in the semis.
A silver medallist in his individual event over the weekend, Ma Lin teamed up with Joel Coughlin to win their doubles match. He then won his solo match to give the Aussies
an unbeatable 2-0 lead in the best of three finals before the other team member Nathan Pellissier got to play.
Australia will play China in Friday’s gold medal match and may be joined by the Australian women’s team, which features two more naturalised Chinese players. Lina Lei and Yang Qian – both of whom won gold for Australia in their singles events – have been an unbeatable force since teaming up with Melissa Tapper and are through to the semis against their former homeland and guaranteed a bronze even if they lose.
“For me, it doesn’t matter who is standing on the other side of the table, they are all my opponents and I will do my best,” Ma Lin said.
“After the two matches yesterday I felt very tired today and I haven’t recovered fully from yesterday.
“I just tried my best today and I didn’t give up.
“It is very good, otherwise I can recover properly for the final with a day off now.”