Paralympic Wheelchair rugby gold medallists – Paralympian #126 Tim Johnson MNZM and Paralympian #156 Jai Waite – have switched to Para table tennis and are set to compete at the ITTF-Oceania Para Table Tennis Championships this week (26-28 September). The duo hope the event – staged at Rosehill College in South Auckland – will serve as a launching pad for their ambitions to qualify for the LA 2028 Paralympic Games.
Tim and Jai both claimed memorable gold medals for Aotearoa New Zealand as members of the all-conquering Wheel Blacks at the Athens 2004 Paralympic Games.
However, in more recent times the Auckland-based training partners have focused on their mutual passion for Para table tennis, with the duo harbouring some big goals in the future.
Jai, an award-winning editor and filmmaker, started to play the Para sport just prior to the COVID-19 outbreak with his family. Quickly hooked, once lockdown hit, he maintained his interest by fitting a table tennis table in his garage and buying a robot to further help finetune his game.
“The Para sport reminded me of that same hand eye co-ordination I felt when playing cricket, which is not something I experienced since I was a kid,” explains Jai. “For me, it was great to explore a Para sport which gave me that same feeling again. There is nothing quite like that sound of the ping off the bat.”
For Tim, who competed at three Paralympic Games and who also won a Wheelchair rugby bronze medal at Sydney 2000, it was a call from Jai over four years ago which acted as the trigger for a more focused approach to Para table tennis.
“I’d played table tennis both pre and post injury but after Jai asked me if I wanted to play, I started to take it more seriously,” he says. “It is a cool Para sport, not as physical as Wheelchair rugby but you still need to be fit, more cognitively than physically. I was naturally quite good at it because I had played for a long time. I played alongside other former Wheelchair rugby players, not only Jai but also Grant Sharman MNZM (Paralympian #107) and Adam Wakeford (Paralympian #169), we had some good games which kept it enjoyable.”
While Wheelchair rugby and Para table tennis appear poles apart as Para sports, both Jai and Tim believe there are some crossovers which have proved beneficial.
“Of course, you burn a lot more energy in Wheelchair rugby, but sport is sport,” says Tim. “It is about the way you prepare, the way you analyse, visualise and all those other aspects of high-performance sport I learned playing Wheelchair rugby. Ultimately Para table tennis is just like Wheelchair rugby in that it comes down to the top two inches.”
This is a view echoed by Jai who adds: “The psychology of sport whichever game you play is similar. So, if you hit the ball wrong or don’t judge the spin correctly you have to remember you can only control the controllables, assess, analyse and move on. Tim and I are both quite methodical, process-driven – a mindset which is great for Para table tennis.”
Both Paralympians have adopted a rigorous training regime to pursue their Para table tennis goals. Jai hits more than 1000 balls a day thanks to his robot at home and has maintained a good general fitness regime which includes a 5km push in his chair for the weekly Park Run.
Tim commits to a minimum of three table sessions per week of at least two hours, in addition to strengthening and aerobic fitness sessions.
Jai, who competes as a Class one player (the most limited level of function) and Tim as a Class two player are looking forward to the challenge of competing at the ITTF-Oceania Para Table Tennis Championships.
So, what would the pair want to achieve this week?
“I’m hoping to learn a bit about the other Para athletes in the region,” explains Tim. “As I will be the only Class two Para athlete, I aim to be competitive and come away with more than one win against higher functioning Class three, four and even Class five Para athletes. If I do that, I will be happy.”
Jai has set a similar level of expectation adding: “I just hope to gain some international experience in Para table tennis. I’ve never competed against another class one player before, while as a Wheelchair rugby player we would not get the chance to take on Para athletes from countries as such as Fiji, Samoa and Cook Islands, it is going to be great.”
In the longer term, as both toast their 50th birthday next year, they acknowledge time is not on their side. Yet both have set some big targets with the 2026 World Para Table Tennis Championships in Thailand and LA28 Paralympic Games the longer-term goal.
“We are fortunate that in the Para sport space we do have more of an opportunity than in the able-bodied space to switch Para sports. We hope to encourage other Para athletes to change focus,” explains Tim.
For Jai, should he make the NZ Paralympic Team for LA28, it will represent a different experience from his previous Paralympic experiences.
“It will prove to me I have another string to my bow and show my kids, who weren’t even born in Athens 2004 and Beijing 2008, that their dad can smash it in another Para sport at a Paralympic Games.”
***The 2025 ITTF-Oceania Para Table Tennis Championships features as part of the Table Tennis New Zealand (TTNZ) 2025 Para Table Tennis Festival (26 September – 4 October 2025). Following the ITTF Oceania Para Championships a National Para Training Camp takes place from 29 September – 1 October 2025 at the venue, with the NZ Para Open Championships (2-4 October 2025).
The ITTF-Oceania Para Table Tennis Championships event brings together 48 Para athletes from eight countries, including Paralympian #230 Matthew Britz who competed at the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games. Matt is one of 15 Paralympians in action at the event, as competitors chase spots at the 2026 World Para Championships.
Admission is free for spectators.
For more detailed information go here.
