Natalia Partyka

The Polish Paralympic team easily surpassed the medal total of their Olympic counterparts in London this summer, with a total of 27 medals as WBJ went to press, leaving them 9th in the overall medal table. This was in comparison to just 10 medals won by the Polish team at the 2012 Olympics.

Poland’s star athlete was once again Natalia Partyka, who retained her Paralympic title in the women’s table tennis singles Class 10 event. Ms Partyka, who also reached the third round of the women’s singles at the Olympics, defeated China’s Qian Yang in five sets (11-5, 11-13, 11-9, 7-11, 11-4) to claim her third Paralympic gold to go with the titles she won in Beijing and Athens.

Patryk Chojnowski also claimed table tennis gold in the men’s singles Class 10 event. The 22-year-old teacher from Świdnik beat China’s defending champion GE Yang in straight sets, in his first ever Paralympic appearance.

Other standout performers included Karolina Kucharczyk, who claimed gold in the women’s long jump F20 classification, and Katarzyna Piekart, who won gold in the women’s F46 javelin event. Ms Piekart also showed her versatility as an athlete by competing in the 100 and 200 meters events in the T46 class.