Fabien Lamirault leads Frances' quest for gold at the Paris Paralympic Games

Gold in Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020, local eyes in table tennis at the 2024 Paralympic Games in Paris will undoubtedly be on Fabien Lamirault as he seeks a third straight victory in the men's singles division two.

He is also a true local: he was paralyzed in a car accident in 1998 and comes from Longjumeau, a suburb in the south of Paris where the table tennis matches of Paraíso, the South Paris Arena 4, are held.

Lamirault is one of five French players who competed in Paris and won medals in Tokyo.

Bronze medalists, in the men's singles Maxime Thomas competes in class 4, Lucas Creange in class 11; remarkably both have had success this year. Lucas Creange won in Egypt and Brazil, Maxime Thomas also in Brazil.

Also present in the women's event will be Lea Ferney, winner of the silver medal in class 11 in Tokyo, as well as Anne Barneoud, winner of the bronze medal in class 7.

Lea Ferney is certainly a strong candidate to repeat her success in Tokyo; like her male colleagues, she won in Brazil this year, but what is remarkable is that she is responding in the big events. She won gold at the Andalucia 2022 World Para Championships.

Anne Barneoud's life looks a little different: she has not appeared on the international stage since Tokyo in 2021.

Medal contenders and with the support of the home country, no one knows what France can still achieve. There are very worthy names who have shown the potential to secure a podium place.

Florian Merrien and Sylvain Noel compete in the men's singles class 3. Merrien became European champion three times in a row. He won in 2005 and repeated this success in 2007 and 2009.

Lately, however, the situation has been a bit different for Sylvain Noel: this year he won in Kazakhstan and at the World Para Qualifying Tournament in Thailand.

In the same vein, Esteban Herrault and Clement Berthier, who were due to compete in Paris, have enjoyed success this year. Herrault won bronze in the sixth-class singles event in Montenegro, Berthier won gold in Slovenia, a tournament that had one of the strongest fields of players in terms of quality to date.

Unfortunately for the 51-year-old, evergreen Stphane Messi, despite being a regular on the international stage this year, there has been no such success. But if experience is anything to go by, he is the man. In 1995 he won gold in the men’s singles class 6 at the European Para Championships; later, at the Athens Paralympic Games in 2004, he emerged victorious.

The list could be supplemented with a few notable French names, and in the men's singles the names of Thomas Bouvais and Mateo Boheas.

Both medaled at the 2022 World Para Championships, Bouvais winning silver in class 8, Boheas bronze in class 10. Additionally, Boheas was a silver medalist in Tokyo three years ago and has enjoyed success this year, winning in Egypt and Spain. Bouvais was notably a bronze medalist in Spain.

An experienced competitor in the women's singles is Thu Kamkasomphu, who won bronze in Tokyo. She won class 8 at the 2000 Paralympic Games in Sydney and eight years later in Beijing.

The record is very different from that of her colleague Alexandra Saint-Pierre. When the Paralympic Games in Tokyo were played, her name was not known. Her international debut was during the Slovenia Para Open in October 2021.

She is a fast learner and won gold in the women’s singles class 5 at the Andalucia 2022 World Para Championships; this year she took bronze in Montenegro, will she respond on home soil as she did two years ago? It is clear she loves the big time!

Medals for France in Paris, can they do better than in Tokyo 2020?