Paralympian Medina eyes 2018 World Championships berth

The bronze medalist in the 2016 Rio Paralympic Games is among the world’s Top 10 players in the women’s Class 8 category. (Pixabay photo)

MANILA— Paralympian Josephine Medina hopes to make it to next year’s World Para Table Tennis Championships in Slovenia.

The bronze medalist in the 2016 Rio Paralympic Games is among the world’s Top 10 players in the women’s Class 8 category.

Medina has a total of 160 points, which is 30 points more than the ranking factor points needed to qualify in the World Championships scheduled on Oct.

15-21, 2018.

“By next year, they will release the qualified players. I’ve already met the tournament credit factor of 130 points for the Asian Region and as of November, I am No. 7 in my category,” said the 46-year-old Medina in an interview on Tuesday.

According to the world rankings as of Nov. 11, 2017, Medina has a rating of 1337.

Chinese Mao Jingdian is at No. 1 with 1566, followed by Thu Kamkasomphou of France (1486), Aida Dahlen of Norway (1455), Juliane Wolf of Germany (1411), Zu Mingyu of the United States (1374) and Zsofia Arloy of Hungary (1341).

Elena Litvinenko of Russia is No. 8 with 1286, followed by Chinese players Yu Hailian (1156) and Li Guiying (1094).

Medina has garnered 80 points last year for winning the gold medal in the PTT Thailand Open and US Open Para Championship in Las Vegas, Nevada.

This year, she has earned 80 more points from the PTT Thailand Open, held from Oct. 18-21 in Suphanburi City and the 4th Taichung Table Tennis Open held in Chinese Taipei from July 16-19.

“I hope and pray to qualify. It’s like the Paralympics, it’s hard to qualify,” said Medina, who was afflicted with polio.

Medina is a gold medalist in the ASEAN Para Games in Malaysia last August. She is also eyeing to win the gold in the 2018 Asian Para Games in Jakarta, Indonesia.

The 2018 World Championships in Slovenia will be the first World title tournament for individual events after the 2016 Rio Paralympic Games. Previous World Championships, including the 2014 edition held in China’s capital city of Beijing, have featured both team and individual events and were held every four years. The tournament has been restructured to hold team events in odd years and individual events in even years.