Oliver Pizzey Stratford secures bronze medal at ITTF World Para Future Santiago

Oliver Pizzey Stratford secured a fantastic bronze medal at the recent ITTF World Para Future in Santiago, in what was his first medal on the international stage for Australia.

Pizzey Stratford, along with Samir Ishani made the trip to the Chilean capital for the fourth ITTF World Para Future event of the year, which started here in Australia on the Gold Coast from February 16-18.

In the group stage of the competition, Pizzey Stratford finished in second place in Group 2, above Chile's Vicente Leiva and USA's Michael Godfrey, with Brazil's Guilherme Marciao De Costa topping the group with three wins from his three matches. The match which proved pivotal for Pizzey Stratford was his 3-1 win over Godfrey (11-7, 11-7, 10-12, 11-9), which sent him into the semi-finals and guaranteed at least a bronze medal. 

In the semi-final, Pizzey Stratford was again up against one of the home favourites in Chile's Luis Flores, but was unable to overcome his opponent in a 3-0 loss. 

The semi-final defeat however, couldn't dampen the spirits of the Australian, who won his first international medal, and also saw himself enter the top 30 in the ITTF World Para Rankings for the first time. 

Sue Stevenson, General Manager of TTA's Paralympic Program, added: "A huge congratulations to Oli, this is a great result for him to win his first ever medal at an international Para table tennis event. This result comes off the back of a massive amount of hard work and sacrifice, and also I would like to congratulate Jenny Langridge (VIC Para Hub Coach) for all the tremendous work that she has put into the daily training environment in the Hub to help all the developing athletes progress, which Oli is a big part of”.

Pizzey Stratford and Ishani will remain in South America in the coming days, as they prepare for the ITTF World Para Challenger Sao Paulo.