Grace Eager To Continue Family Legacy

Driven by the cherished opportunity to continue her family's legacy at the Olympic Games, young table tennis athlete Grace Yee eagerly prepares to compete in the 2024 International Table Tennis Federation-Oceania Olympic Singles Qualification, commencing on May 10, 2024, in Noumea, New Caledonia.

The second-year Nursing student, whose elder sister Sally Yee boasts two Olympic appearances, holds onto the hope that the third time will prove to be her lucky charm. With aspirations set on securing a spot in the team, she aims to represent her country at the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris, France, scheduled for July.

"I've been to two qualifying events in 2016 and 2020 and both times came in 2nd to Sally and with her not taking part in this year's qualifiers, I hope I get that chance to make the team," Grace said.

The soft spoken 22-year-old is not taking things for granted and has been training hard despite having to juggle both her sport and her education.

"At the moment one of my biggest challenge in the sport is game time," she said.

"We have had a few local competitions and the last overseas competition we had was the ITTF-Oceania Olympic Team and Mixed Doubles Qualification competition last year.

"Unfortunately, we were unable to qualify then but hopefully we will qualify an athlete or two this time and I hope to be one of them," she said.

Grace said whether she made the team or not she was hopeful that Fiji will be represented in the sport at the Olympics.

"My sister started something, and hopefully, that legacy can be carried on, whether by me or someone else," she said with determination. "It's essential for the sport to maintain its representation at the Olympics."

Grace took part in the 2018 Youth Olympics in Argentina and hopes that her experience since then will be enough to secure her a spoton Team Fiji.

Grace will face tough competition from current top athlete Carolyn Li while teammates Vicky Wu, Joshua Yee and Jai Chauhan will hope to secure a male spot on Team Fiji.

Fiji will face off against other Pacific countries including Vanuatu, Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea, Tonga and Samoa.

Fiji first appearance in Table Tennis was in 2016 in Rio, Brazil before making its 2nd appearance at Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games  with Sally Yee representing Fiji at both events.

Table tennis first appeared at the Seoul Olympic Games in 1988, with singles and doubles competitions for men and women.

A total of 172 table tennis players, with an equal distribution between men and women, will compete across five medal events (two per gender and a mixed) at these Games, the exact same amount as those in the previous editions.

The table tennis tournaments at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris are scheduled to run from 27 July to 10 August at the Paris Expo Porte de Versailles.

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