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| Nickname(s) | PK | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Nationality | Welsh | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | 3 October 1985 Swansea, Wales | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Height | 5 ft 9 in (175 cm) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sport | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Country |  Great Britain | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sport | Para table tennis | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Disability | Brain haemorrhage | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Disability class | C6 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Club | Cardiff TTC | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Paul Arif Karabardak (born 3 October 1985) is a Welsh para table tennis player who has competed in three Summer Paralympics. [1]
Karabardak was a keen footballer when he was a child but he suffered from a massive stroke aged 10, he played table tennis after his stroke in a local youth club. [2]
Aged 16 in 2001, Karabardak was chosen to participate in the GB Para Table Tennis Team in Frankfurt for the European Championships. He won his first national medal along with David Hope, a bronze in the teams' event. He continued to win two silver medals and two bronze medals in the team events. In 2017, in Lasko, Slovenia, Karabardak won his first ever European gold medal with David Wetherill and Martin Perry after defeating Croatia in the final. [3]
2008 Summer Paralympics in Beijing, China were Karabardak's first Paralympic Games. He lost in the group stage of the tournament after losing to two matches and winning one. In the 2012 Summer Paralympics, he was second in his group by winning against Kim Young Sung and losing to bronze medalist Mykhaylo Popov. At his third games in Rio de Janeiro, he was bottom of his group and didn't advance to the final rounds.
Matthew Langridge is a British rower. At the 2012 Summer Olympics in London he was part of the British crew that won the bronze medal in the men's eight. He was the 2015 European Champion in the men's pair, along with James Foad. At the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro he was part of the British crew that won the gold medal in the men's eight.
Paul Drinkhall is a British table tennis player. He won the English Championship in 2007, 2009, 2011, 2012, 2016 and 2017.
Great Britain, represented by the British Olympic Association (BOA), competed at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, China. The United Kingdom was represented by the British Olympic Association (BOA), and the team of selected athletes was officially known as Team GB. Britain is one of only five NOCs to have competed in every modern Summer Olympic Games since 1896. The delegation of 547 people included 311 competitors – 168 men, 143 women – and 236 officials. The team was made up of athletes from the whole United Kingdom including Northern Ireland. Additionally some British overseas territories compete separately from Britain in Olympic competition.
Great Britain competed at the 2008 Summer Paralympics in Beijing, People's Republic of China. Great Britain sent a delegation of around 400, of which 212 were athletes, to compete in eighteen sports at the Games. The team was made up of athletes from the whole United Kingdom; athletes from Northern Ireland, who may elect to hold Irish citizenship under the pre-1999 article 2 of the Irish constitution, are able to be selected to represent either Great Britain or Ireland at the Paralympics. Additionally some British overseas territories compete separately from Britain in Paralympic competition.
Peter Robert Norfolk OBE is a British wheelchair tennis player. Following a motorbike accident which left him paraplegic, he uses a wheelchair. He took up tennis and following a further spinal complication in 2000, he began competing in the quad division. He is nicknamed The Quadfather.
Australia has participated officially in every Paralympic Games since its inauguration in 1960 except for the 1976 Winter Paralympics.
Great Britain competed at the 2012 Summer Paralympics in London, United Kingdom, from 29 August to 9 September 2012 as the host nation. A total of 288 athletes were selected to compete along with 13 other team members such as sighted guides. The country finished third in the medals table, behind China and Russia, winning 120 medals in total; 34 gold, 43 silver and 43 bronze. Multiple medallists included cyclist Sarah Storey and wheelchair athlete David Weir, who won four gold medals each, and swimmer Stephanie Millward who won a total of five medals. Storey also became the British athlete with the most overall medals, 22, and equal-most gold medals, 11, in Paralympic Games history.
Liam Pitchford is a British table tennis player. As of January 2023, he is ranked the No. 23 player in the world. He is currently sponsored by Victas.
David John Smith is a Paralympian who made his Paralympic debut on the British boccia team that won the gold medal at the 2008 Summer Paralympics. He competed for Great Britain at the 2012 Summer Paralympics and did so winning Bronze in the Team BC1–2. and Silver in the BC1 individual event watched by a record Boccia crowd at the Excel arena. David competed for Paralympics GB for a third time in Rio where he won Gold in the individual BC1 event for the first time in his career. David held the 'triple crown' of major tournament wins following his win at the World Championships in Liverpool 2018 until the World Championships in Rio 2022 where he claimed Silver. David is now the holder of three Paralympic Gold Medals, after winning at the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics, making him the most decorated British Boccia player in history and the first BC1 to defend a Paralympic title, He was selected to carry the GB flag in the Tokyo 2020 closing ceremony.
William John Bayley is a British professional Paralympic table tennis player, ranked world number 1. He is the 2016 Summer Paralympics Games gold medallist and the 2014 World Champion.
Caz Walton OBE is a British retired wheelchair athlete and former Great Britain Paralympic team manager. She was a multi-disciplinary gold medallist who competed in numerous Paralympic Games. Between 1964 and 1976 she won medals in athletics, swimming, table tennis, and fencing. She took a break from the Paralympics, entering the basketball and fencing competitions in 1988. In total Walton won ten gold medals during her Paralympic career, making her one of the most successful British athletes of all time. Walton should also have been awarded gold in the 1968 Tel Aviv Women's Pentathlon incomplete but, due to a miscalculation of her total score which went unnoticed at the time, she was given third place and a bronze medal.
Ross Wilson is a British paralympic table tennis player.
Sara Head is a Welsh Paralympic table tennis player. Head has represented Wales at two Commonwealth Games and was selected for the 2012 Paralympic Games, where she took the bronze medal in the women's team class 1–3 event with team-mate Jane Campbell.
Great Britain and Northern Ireland competed, under the name Great Britain, at the 2016 Summer Paralympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from 7 September to 18 September 2016. The first places for which the team qualified were for six athletes in sailing events.
Aaron McKibbin is an English Paralympic table tennis player. McKibben represented Great Britain at the 2012 Summer Paralympics and won a bronze medal in the Men's team – Class 6–8.
Maha Al-Bargouthi is a retired Jordanian Paralympic athlete who has won three Paralympic medals in para table tennis, she has competed in five Paralympic Games. She was voted Jordan's top sportsperson in 2002.
Neil Robinson is a retired para table tennis player from the United Kingdom. He participated in seven consecutive Paralympic Games and won team titles with Scott Robertson and James Rawson in both world and European championships.
Great Britain competed in the 2020 Summer Paralympics in Tokyo, Japan. Originally scheduled to take place between 21 August and 6 September 2020, the Games were postponed to 24 August to 5 September 2021 as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. British athletes have competed at sixteen consecutive Summer Paralympics since 1960.
Germany competed at the 2020 Summer Paralympics in Tokyo, Japan, from 24 August to 5 September 2021. This was their sixteenth consecutive appearance at the Summer Paralympics since 1960.
Paul Lyall was a British para table tennis player who competed at three Paralympic Games winning a total of six medals including three gold medals. He was known as one of the British legends of the early years of the Paralympics.
