Japan: Paralympic ping pong legend still smashing winners at 72 years old

Subscribe to our channel 72yearold table tennis player Kimie Bessho, nicknamed Madame butterfly, was filmed training for another shot at the paralympic games at the AllStar Table Tennis centre in Akashi on Thursday. The 2014 Asian Para Games bronze medalist and fourtime Paralympic Games participant will take part in the ITTF s International Table Tennis Federation World Final Qualifying tournament held in Slovenia in June. The tournament will give her another chance to earn a seat at the Tokyo Paralympics 2021. Bessho s first sporting love was baseball, but she began playing table tennis competitively after bone cancer left her in a wheelchair indefinitely. It is kind of like I m disabled in exchange for my life. After all, I had to cut my nerves to get rid of the cancer, so I got rid of all the cancer in the bones. That made me disabled. At the time, I was 43 years old, explained Bessho. Bessho qualified for the 2016 Paralympic Games as a 68yearold and although they say