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Melissa Tapper

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Melissa Tapper
2016 Australian Paralympic team portrait of Tapper
Personal information
NationalityAustralian
Born (1990-03-01) 1 March 1990 (age 34)
Hamilton, Victoria
Height166 cm (5 ft 5 in)[1]
Weight65 kg (143 lb)[1]
Sport
CountryAustralia
SportTable Tennis
Medal record
Women's table tennis
Representing  Australia
Paralympic Games
Silver medal – second place 2020 Tokyo Team Class 9-10
World Para Table Tennis Championships
Bronze medal – third place 2014 Beijing Singles SF10
Bronze medal – third place 2018 Lasko-Celje Singles SF10
Commonwealth Games
Gold medal – first place 2018 Gold Coast Singles TT6–10
Bronze medal – third place 2014 Glasgow Team
Oceania Championships
Gold medal – first place 2008 Papeete Doubles
Gold medal – first place 2014 Bendigo Doubles
Gold medal – first place 2024 Auckland Team
Silver medal – second place 2024 Auckland Doubles
Bronze medal – third place 2024 Auckland Singles

Melissa Tapper (born 1 March 1990) is an Australian table tennis player. After competing at the 2012 Summer Paralympics, she represented Australia at the 2014 Commonwealth Games in elite non-Paralympic competition.[2] In March 2016, she became the first Australian athlete to qualify for both the Summer Olympics and Summer Paralympics.[3]

She qualified for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. She competed with Jian Fang Lay and Michelle Bromley in the women's team event but they were defeated by Germany 3-0 in the round of 16.[4] At the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics Tapper won a silver medal at the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics in the Women's Team C9-10 and competed the 2024 Paris Olympics and Paralympics.

Early life

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Tapper was born on 1 March 1990 in Hamilton, Victoria,[5] [6][7] She has a brachial plexus injury resulting in Erb's palsy.[5] She attended Monivae College and Caulfied Grammar School.[8] That year, she won the South West Sports Assembly's junior female of the year award.[8] She has completed Bachelor of Exercise Science at Australian Catholic University.[5]

Table tennis

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Tapper is a class 10 table tennis player[5][9] which means she competes while standing as opposed to competing while in a wheelchair.[7] As of 2012, she has a scholarship with the Victorian Institute of Sport.[10]

At the Slovenia Open in 2012

When Tapper started playing in 2002 while still in primary school, she competed against able-bodied athletes,[5][7] and her first appearance on an Australian national team was at a competition in Jordan in 2004 in an able-bodied competition.[5] In 2004, she participated in the National Table Tennis Championships in the under-14s doubles and mixed doubles, under-16s doubles and mixed doubles, under-14s singles, under-16s singles and under-18s singles, earning medals in seven of these events, with three total first-place finishes.[6]

That year, Tapper also competed at an event in the Czech Republic,[6] and another in Portugal, where she played in the World Junior Cadets under-15s.[8] Her college helped fund part of her travel competition costs.[6][8] She started to take the sport more seriously, with the idea of going to the Olympic Games and representing Australia.[7] At the 2008 Under 18 Oceania Championship and the 2008 Under 21 Australian Championships, she came in first place. By 2008, she was the Australian U21 and the Oceania U18 champion,[11] and won the Michael Szabados Award for the Australian Junior Player of the Year. She competed in the Commonwealth Youth Games in Pune, India, in October 2008.[12]

Around 2010, Tapper decided to try playing Para-Table Tennis, making the switch from able bodied competition to disability sport. It was also around this time that during a remarkable game of table tennis at the Neal Stadium, competitor Kelvin Neal beat her 3 sets to 0.[5] In early 2011, she was ranked 19th in the world.[7]

Tapper playing at the 2012 London Paralympics

In March, she spent time in Europe playing table tennis in Italy and Hungary, winning the Opens in both countries.[5] She won two gold medals at the 2011 Arafura Games,[13] and was selected to represent Australia at the 2012 Summer Paralympics in table tennis.[5] She modelled the 2012 Australian Paralympic team uniform at Sydney's Overseas Passenger Terminal during the Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Australia Spring/Summer 2012/13.[14][15]

Tapper was selected to represent Australia at the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow. She took part in the Mixed Doubles and Women's Team events. In the Group stage of the Women's Team event, Tapper beat her Guyanese opponent Trenace Lowe 3–0. The Australian team, including Tapper, ultimately won the bronze medal in this event.[16] In the Mixed Doubles event, she and partner Heming Hu defeated the Kenyan mixed doubles team 3–0 to reach Round 3. In Round 3, Hu and Tapper were beaten 3–0 by the Canadian pair.[17]

At the September 2014 ITTF World Para Table Tennis Championships in Beijing, China, she won a bronze medal in women's singles SF10. It was Australia's first ever medal at the Championships.[18] On Friday 25 March 2016, Tapper made history by winning her way through the Oceanic Championship, thus making her the first athlete to ever be selected to represent Australia in both the Paralympic and Olympic Games. At 2016 Rio Olympics, she lost first round matches in women's singles and doubles.

At the 2016 Rio Paralympics, Tapper won one match in the Women's Singles Class 10 preliminaries and did not advance. In the Women's Doubles Class 6–10, Tapper and her partner Andrea McDonnell finished fourth.[19]

At the 2018 Commonwealth Games, Gold Coast, she won the gold medal in the Women's TT6-10.[20]

Tapper took home bronze in the Women's Class 10 at the 2018 Para Table Tennis World Championships in Lasko-Celje, Slovenia.[21]

At the 2019 Oceania Para Table Tennis Championships, Darwin, she won the gold medal in the Women's Class 6–10.[22]

She won a silver medal at the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics in the Women's Team C9-10 with Lei Li Na and Yang Qian. She lost in the Women's C10 in the quarter-finals to fellow Australian Yang Qian.[23] She competed at the 2024 Paris Paralympics in the Women's Singles 10 and Mixed Doubles 17 but did not progress after losing opening matches.

Recognition

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In October 2014, she won the Victorian Institute of Sport's Elite Athlete with a Disability Award.[24] In November 2018, Tapper won Victorian Institute of Sport Personal Excellence Award. In 2019, she won Governor's Award Victorian Female Athlete of the Year – the Kitty McEwan Award.[25] She was a member of the Australian Table Table Tennis Team (Class 9-10) that was awarded 2020 Paralympics Australia Team of the Year.[26]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b "Melissa Tapper". rio2016.olympics.com.au. Australian Olympic Committee. Archived from the original on 27 July 2016. Retrieved 10 July 2016.
  2. ^ "Tapper wins spot on able-bodies Glasgow team". The Warrnambool Standard. Archived from the original on 12 April 2016. Retrieved 1 May 2016.
  3. ^ "Aussie table tennis player Melissa Tapper makes Olympic and Paralympic history". Sydney Morning Herald. 29 March 2016. Archived from the original on 15 August 2016. Retrieved 30 March 2016.
  4. ^ "Australian Olympic Team for Tokyo 2021". The Roar. Retrieved 14 March 2022.
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i "Melissa Tapper". Australia: Australian Paralympic Committee. 2012. Archived from the original on 10 March 2018. Retrieved 13 July 2012.
  6. ^ a b c d "Tapper's talent again on display". The Spectator-Observer. 7 October 2004. Archived from the original on 31 December 2012. Retrieved 27 July 2012.
  7. ^ a b c d e "Hamilton sporting export wins Paralympic selection". The Warrnambool Standard. 25 April 2012. Archived from the original on 1 December 2014. Retrieved 27 July 2012.
  8. ^ a b c d "Tapper attacks world circuit". The Spectator-Observer. 27 May 2004. Archived from the original on 31 December 2012. Retrieved 27 July 2012.
  9. ^ Paul Kennedy (11 February 2012). "Contact Sport Friday 10 February". ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation). Archived from the original on 3 June 2012. Retrieved 27 July 2012.
  10. ^ "Victorian Athletes Selected for London Olympics and Paralympics". VicSport. Archived from the original on 10 April 2013. Retrieved 27 July 2012.
  11. ^ "Melissa Tapper". Victorian Institute of Sport. Archived from the original on 1 July 2011.
  12. ^ "2008 Annual Report" (PDF). Table Tennis Australia. Archived from the original (PDF) on 30 March 2016. Retrieved 1 May 2016.
  13. ^ Wake, Rebekka (15 May 2011). "Tapper – 'stoked' – by dual – success". Sunday Territorian. Darwin, Australia. p. 56. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 27 July 2012.
  14. ^ "Paralympian Melissa Tapper Showcases The 2012 Australian... News Photo | Getty Images AU | 143608657". Getty Images. 1 May 2012. Archived from the original on 8 August 2014. Retrieved 27 July 2012.
  15. ^ "Paralympic team reveals game wear". ABC (Australian Broadcasting Corporation). 30 April 2012. Archived from the original on 8 August 2014. Retrieved 19 September 2024.
  16. ^ Woolley, Jarrod (29 July 2014). "Hamilton export Melissa Tapper wins bronze medal at Commonwealth Games". The Warrnambool Standard. Archived from the original on 2 June 2016. Retrieved 29 April 2016.
  17. ^ Woolley, Jarrod (1 August 2014). "Mixed doubles defeat ends successful Commonwealth Games campaign for Tapper". The Warrnambool Standard. Archived from the original on 2 June 2016. Retrieved 29 April 2016.
  18. ^ "Tapper wins Australia's first ever ITTF Para-table tennis medal". Australian Paralympic Committee. 12 September 2014. Archived from the original on 10 March 2015. Retrieved 12 September 2014.
  19. ^ "Melissa Tapper". Rio Paralympics Official site. Archived from the original on 3 December 2016. Retrieved 13 November 2016.
  20. ^ "Melissa Tapper Results". Commonwealth Games Australia. Retrieved 5 July 2021.
  21. ^ "Bronzed Tapper". Paralympics Australia. Retrieved 5 July 2021.
  22. ^ Gillen, Nancy (7 May 2019). "Australia dominate home Oceania Para Table Tennis Championships". Inside The Games. Retrieved 5 July 2019.
  23. ^ "Melissa Tapper". Tokyo 2020 Paralympics. Tokyo Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games. Archived from the original on 27 September 2021. Retrieved 27 September 2021.
  24. ^ "Tapper wins prestigious award". HWATT - Health, Wellness & Table Tennis. 28 October 2014. Archived from the original on 31 May 2016. Retrieved 1 May 2016.
  25. ^ "Melissa Tapper named Victorian Female Athlete of the Year". Tbale Tennis For All. For Life. 21 February 2019. Retrieved 5 July 2021.
  26. ^ "De Rozario And Tudhope Earn Top Honours at Paralympics Australia Awards". Paralympics Australia. 9 June 2022. Retrieved 10 June 2022.
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