Caleb Lee first local player to feature at Singapore Smash Para Showcase

SINGAPORE – As a young boy, Caleb Lee developed a passion for sport as he played badminton, football and bowled.

But an accident when he was seven changed that. While on the way home from a shopping trip with his mother, sister and aunts, a drunk taxi driver drove into a railing along the pedestrian walkway, causing the bar to fly off and hit him.

The accident left Lee with spastic hemiplegia, a type of cerebral palsy that results in stiff and tight muscles on one side of the body, and kept him away from sports for a few years.

That was until his mother’s friend suggested he give table tennis a try when he was 11. Now 20, Lee has gone on to represent Singapore in overseas para-table tennis competitions.

“During that period (when I didn’t play sports), I felt quite sad because I saw people kicking the ball, running around and I was quite sad I couldn’t be like them any more,” said the Institute of Technical Education College East student, whose left side of the body is affected by the condition.

“But I was happy to be able to pick up a new sport (with table tennis).”

Lee, an Asian Youth Para Games silver medallist, is set to be the first local to feature at the Singapore Smash Para Showcase from Feb 3 to 5 at the Singapore Sports Hub. He earned a spot in the US$29,500 (S$39,700) event as a host wild card.

The Para Showcase will run alongside the Singapore Smash, which is at the same venue from Jan 30 to Feb 9.

It was introduced to the Singapore Smash programme in 2024 and featured more than 20 Class 6-7 players.

Class 6 players stand, despite severe impairments in both their arms and legs due to incomplete spinal-cord injuries, neurological conditions which affect both or one side of the body, amputations or congenital conditions.

Those in Class 7 have a severe impairment of the legs or the playing arm, but less severe than those in Class 6.

The inaugural edition saw Thailand’s Chalermpong Punpoo and Turkey’s Kubra Korkut win the men’s and women’s categories respectively.

The 2025 edition will involve players in the Class 8 (C8) category for those with a moderate impairment of the legs or a moderately affected playing arm.

The men’s event will feature Ukraine’s reigning singles C8 Paralympic champion Viktor Didukh and Paris Paralympics men’s doubles Class 18 gold medallist Piotr Grudzien from Poland.

The women’s draw will have France’s Thu Kamkasomphou, a nine-time Paralympic medallist, and Chile’s Florencia Perez, who clinched singles C8 bronze at the Paris Games.

While it is Lee’s first time participating in the tournament, he has been there as a spectator.

One of his most memorable experiences was watching national player Izaac Quek, who has impressed in previous editions of the Singapore event.

In 2023, the teenager reached the last 16 after beating Sweden’s 2019 world championships runner-up Mattias Falck and India’s Commonwealth Games champion Sharath Achanta.

in 2024, he made it to the men’s doubles quarter-finals with Koen Pang.

Lee said: “I’ve watched him play and it’s amazing that he’s so young and he plays that level of table tennis. I will try my very best in the competition and gain more experience and exposure from the opponents I play with and enjoy it at the same time.”

His coach Lawson Tang hopes Lee can benefit from playing against the world’s top players.

The 53-year-old said: “It’s a good experience to learn from top players for para-table tennis.

“We don’t have that many opportunities to go for competitions, so there’s a lot of learning points from here.”