Joachim Voigt: Is there a champion (not necessarily in table tennis) that you admire or is an inspiration for you?

Tommy Urhaug: Ole-Einar Björndalen, he is a famous biathlete from Norway. I have spoken some times with him. I was impressed because he is thinking a lot about training.

JV: What are your next goals? Is it to be successfull like Björndalen?

TU: (laughing) Yes, of course. That would be great.

JV: How did you start playing table tennis?

TU: I started when I was 15. It was random that it was table tennis. We had to choose a sport at school and I chose table tennis. My father was a coach. So we practised also in the evening.

JV: Has your father been a coach before?

TU: No, he started with me. He bought a lot of video tapes especially from Swedish Players like Persson and Waldner. Then we tried to play the same way like they did.

JV: So you started at school. When did you get a member of a club?

TU: I started in a club for disabled. After two or three years I changed to a club for able-bodied players. I´m still playing for this club. I play now in the Division 1. I played for two years in the Top Division, but in the Division 1 it´s better for me. I have more close matches there.

JV: You where the first disabled player in the Top Division?

TU: I think Rolf (Rolf-Erik Paulsen) was the first there.

JV: How do you practise?

TU: Most of the time I play with able-bodied players. For a long time I used a robot for nearly my complete training. Now I still use it, but not so much any more. With the players of my club I only practise sometimes, because it´s 3 hours to drive for me. So mostly I practise at home.

JV: Do you also have training sessions with wheelchairs?

TU: Sometimes I play with younger players in wheelchair. But not so often. And also sometimes Jan, Rolf and me meet to practice together.

Jan Bergersen: That is a reason why we are here. To practise with a lot of wheelchair players on a high level.

JV: What is in your opinion the difference beetwen playing against wheelchairs and standings?

TU: Against standings it´s a lot serve and attack. More an open game. Against many wheelchair players more pushing is important. Also tactics and angles are big parts of the matches. But also against some of the wheelchairs it´s an open game, like Bollden or Cetin.

JV: Is there a special league for wheelchairs?

TU: No, we do not have a special league. In Norway everybody plays in leagues for able-bodied.

JV: What is the advantage of integration of disabled sports?

JB: It is not so easy to say. I started as a coach for disabled in 1995, 1996 Tommy started to play and we are integrated since 1994. So we don´t know it in another way. It´s definitly easier to get sparrings. We cooperate especially with the junior and the womens team of Norway. Another advantage is finding new coaches, which works well. And we are treated in the same way, we get the same equipment.

JV: What do you expect for the paralympics?

JB: A lot of smog. More we are not expecting but hoping, of course.

TU: I´m hoping for a medal. That´s the reason why I´m there. The Paralympic medal is the only medal that is missing in my collection. I hope I can fix that now.

Thanks for the interview and good luck for the Paralympics.
Joachim Voigt