Ibrahim Hamadtou lost both of his arms in a tragic train accident when he was 10. 38 years later, he‘s making national headlines playing table tennis with only his mouth and feet in the Paralympics. Truly inspirational!
The Egyptian Paralympian is currently competing in his second Paralympic Games in the table tennis category, and his incredible skill in balancing the paddle with only his mouth and serving the ball with only his foot deserves and a moment of admiration of its own.
According to Hamadtou, he grew up playing soccer in his village but was eventually drawn to table tennis in order to challenge his limits, and that he did. So far, he has multiple medals under his belt including three silver medals— all in the 2011 and 2013 African Championships and the 2013 Egypt Open respectively.
His incredible story of unwavering resilience is the reason Paralympics is the rue testament of just how far humans can challenge physical limitations and that our shortcomings shouldn't define our capability. Watch Ibrahim Hamadtou in all his glory in the short clip below:
This is incredible. 48 year old Egyptian Paralympian Ibrahim Hamadtou who lost his arms in a train accident aged 10 in Tokyo today. Could have played football but took up table tennis “as a challenge.” How inspiring is this? (via @Ch4Paralympics) pic.twitter.com/ONB59KwgVD
— Omid Djalili (@omid9) August 25, 2021
