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Nova Scotian Ian Kent eyes table tennis medal at Parapanamerican Games in Rio

09 August 2007
RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil (August 9, 2007)  – Nova Scotian Ian Kent is back in elite-level competition and he’s primed to return home with a table tennis medal from the Parapanamerican Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
 
“I’ll be on the podium here,” proclaims Kent, 47. “These younger guys are playing a grey-haired man with a bit of a ponch (belly). I can’t imagine what is going on inside their heads. I’m double their age but they can still lose to me.”
 
National table tennis for athletes with a disability coach John Macpherson, a Cole Harbour, NS resident, says Kent is definitely Canada’s best chance for a table tennis medal in Rio.
 
“He could definitely crack the top ten in the world. And if he qualifies for the Beijing Paralympic Summer Games next year and gets a good draw, he could earn a medal there too,” notes Macpherson.
 
Kent is currently ranked 17th in the world.
 
Table tennis has been in Kent’s blood for 32 years. He was on Canada’s national able-bodied junior table tennis team and placed second in Canada’s under-13 singles competition. He also coached Canada’s national table tennis team from 1985 to 1991.
 
“It’s a second chance at playing for me. I coached for the country and now here I am in Brazil playing for Canada. It’s great,” says Kent.
 
In 1999, at the age of 38 he woke up “twisted and contorted,” lost 45 pounds over three months and was subsequently diagnosed with dystonia.
 
He began playing table tennis again in 2001, but he didn’t immediately consider playing against other athletes with a physical disability. In 2002, he won the men’s open at the Atlantic Canada Championships for able-bodied athletes.
 
Macpherson saw a spot for Kent on Canada’s table tennis for the physically disabled team and brought him aboard. In 2005, he won silver at the 2003 Parapanamerican Games in Mar del Plata, Argentina.
 
When Kent’s not training, he’s giving his three sons – Isaac, 17, Tyler, 15, and Matthew, 13 – table tennis pointers. Isaac won two bronze medals a month ago at the Canadian national table tennis championships and Tyler earned a bronze.
 
In Rio, Kent will be competing in the men’s open, men’s class single and team events. He will play his first game in Rio on August 13.
 
Kent is one of 92 Canadian athletes competing in Rio in athletics, wheelchair basketball, judo, seven-a-side football, table tennis, sitting volleyball, powerlifting and swimming. The 2007 Parapanamerican Games will run from August 12-19.

 

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