International Sports Exchange ‘Deaf Table Tennis’ was held.
On Saturday, 25th October, the International Sports Exchange ‘Deaf Table Tennis’ was held at the Tōen Ward Community Activity Centre.
Twenty-eight participants took part.
Foreign participants were from China, France, Nepal, Russia, and Taiwan.
Deaf individuals also participated, and we asked sign language interpreters to attend.
This year, the Tokyo 2025 Deaflympics will be held from 15th to 26th November, and the Nakano City General Gymnasium will host Taekwondo competitions.
To enable cheering at the venue, we first asked members of the Nakano City Sign Language Rhythm Dance Association to teach us three cheering signs. Afterwards, all participants sang along to ‘It’s a Small World’ using sign language.
Next, we had some practice of table tennis. Once we warmed up, we moved on to experiencing “Deaf Table Tennis”. We wore “earmuffs”– headphone-like devices – to block out sound while playing.
Participants’ feedback were : ‘I didn’t feel much different,’ and ‘It was completely different. The moment I took off the earmuffs, the sound felt much louder.’
Finally, a match was held. The winner was a student from a Japanese language school in China who had been playing table tennis since Year 4 of primary school. Beyond the interaction among participants, there was also a Chinese student from Japanese language school learning sign language to volunteer at the Deaflympics, enabling communication through sign language.
