After qualifying for this year's Rio Paralympics (Sept 7-18) in April last year at Oceania Para C'ships, Barak Mizrachi (class 8 Singles) with the rest of the Aust. Paralympic TT Team has finally been officially announced.
This has been a long journey for Barak who started playing in 2001. He was coached by Paul Bronstein from 2002 - 2010 then by Mark Smythe since May 2011.
Barak has won many National and Oceania Para titles, plus represented Australia at 2013 World University Games but it's fair to say, playing at this year's Paralympics will be a career highlight.
For 2012 London Paralympics Barak was in contention for a wild card and missed out but this time around earned his spot by winning the Regional (Oceania) C'ships in April last year. The special aspect about this achievement is Barak had to compete against players who were Class 10 (less disabled) and was able to defeat Joel Coghlan (Class 10) in the final after losing to him every time in the past.
Barak, together with the other TT Paralympians, travel to europe and will play in Slovenia Para Open followed by Slovakia Para Open over the next few weeks.
To see some quick facts about Barak click, Barak Mizrachi - quick facts
To see article about the TT Paralympian Team click, Aust. Paralympic TT Team