Thai table tennis player Orawan “Thip” Paranang fires balls across the practice table that dominates the living room of her modest house on the edge of Bangkok.
The makeshift training setup is the final stage of a 17-year journey that has taken the left-hander from poverty in rural Thailand to the grand stage of the Olympics.
The 24-year-old — who was once told that she was too short to play the game — secured her spot at the Tokyo Games with victory at the Asian Table Tennis Championships in Qatar in March.
Photo: AFP
Having helped to support her family in northeast Thailand with prize money since she was 15, she now stands on the threshold of the highest stage.
“When I passed that point [Olympic qualification], I felt like I finally managed to lift a heavy stone off my chest,” Orawan said. “It was an indescribable feeling.”
Her love of the game was sparked in her home district — deep in the rice fields of Ubon Ratchathani, a farming province on the border with Laos and Cambodia — when the seven-year-old Orawan saw older pupils winning prizes at school.
However, as the fourth of five children born to poor farmer parents, getting even basic equipment such as bats was a struggle.
“My family didn’t really have much money to support my pursuit of this sport, but they’ve always been supportive spiritually and mentally — and let me do what I love,” she said.
Orawan also faced a battle to secure her first coach, slogging away at drills over countless hours to prove her commitment.
Eventually the coach agreed to take on Orawan, and pay for her uniform and equipment. Orawan later enrolled at a specialist sports school in Bangkok.
Orawan’s big tournament breakthrough came in 2018 when she won the women’s doubles at the Thailand Open with Suthasini Sawettabut.
Now the living room of the home she shares with her boyfriend and nephew has become her training center as she dedicates seven hours per day to preparing for next month’s Games.
Ranked world No. 88, Orawan’s medal chances are slim, but she is determined to do her best.
“My goal is to get as close to the final rounds as possible,” she said, her face brightening.
“At this point of my life, I feel like I’ve succeeded, and that my parents and my family are happy,” she said. “Everything’s changed. The financial status of my family has improved. It’s not yet perfect, but we’re not struggling anymore like we used to.”
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