Judge ready to revel in Paralympics experience with beloved family

"If your goal is complicated and what you are trying to achieve is difficult, you are bound to encounter adversity.

"If you have that attitude, the blows and disappointments become easier to survive and you can hopefully enjoy the highs all the more."

Colin Judge had to deal with adversity from day one of his life after being born with only one limb, his left arm.

The Dublin table tennis player will carry the Ireland tricolour with that one arm at the Paralympics opening ceremony on Wednesday after being chosen for the country's flagbearing role along with sprint athlete Orla Comerford.

At Place de La Concorde, the 29-year-old will look to pick out proud parents Michelle and Brian and brother Niall in the crowd, along with his aunt Anna and other family members and friends determined to squeeze every drop out of the Paris Games experience after none of them could join him in Tokyo three years ago amid the Covid-19 restrictions.

Colin's beloved grandmother Patricia Butler, who turned 91 recently, won't be in Paris but will proudly watch every moment on television in county Donegal alongside another of his aunts Assumpta.

"My family supported me from the day I was born. I can’t even imagine how difficult it was back then," Judge told BBC Sport Northern Ireland."

"They did an incredible job of setting me up in life and I’ve so much to be grateful to my mum and dad."

His parents' love and unwavering support from his extended family as everybody in his life pulled hard for him, in turn fostered a resilience that is the very essence of his being.

"Failure is a reality. I learned that at a young age when my mum used to put my shirt and tie on the bed every morning," recalled Judge.

"I always tried and failed to put it on but from the age of eight I was able to dress myself.

"I figured out so many different ways that didn’t work and then I found a way that did. That’s the main message I would give to kids."

Judge loved sport from an early age but couldn't find a suitable sporting outlet before, on his own initiative, an email to UCD table tennis club when he was aged 13 opened up a whole new vista in his life.

Many school children, able-bodied and disabled, and indeed adults have heard the message of fortitude and hope he gives during talks at schools and businesses throughout Ireland.

"I try and give people the belief my parents gave me that if you work hard at something you can achieve it no matter what it is," said Judge.

In tandem with his table tennis prowess, he excelled academically at St Michael's College in Dublin and University College Dublin as his mathematical ability enabled him to become an actuary, with KPMG having been among his employers before he concentrated fully on table tennis.

That decision to commit fully to chasing his dream of becoming a Paralympian, ironically, came after he had received the biggest blow of his table tennis career in 2018.

That was when he was re-classified from class two to class three in Paralympic table tennis, which dropped him from fifth in the world rankings to outside the top 30 in his new class.

"I had just won the European Championship but went from being pretty much guaranteed to qualify for Tokyo and having a really good medal chance to looking very unlikely to qualify," he said.

"I knew I couldn’t compete unless I became a much better table tennis player so I moved to a club in Germany and then based myself in Slovakia for a year.

"A lot of athletes were very disappointed the Games were postponed by a year but it gave me more time to practise and when crunch time came around I got one of the last places for Tokyo."

Judge will forever be grateful for the support he received from Slovakian Paralympian Boris Travnicek, who put him up in his apartment in addition to driving him to tournaments all over central and eastern Europe that they both were competing in.

"I had a few sponsors. It was quite cheap to live in Slovakia and Boris was very generous," he said.

"My family and friends obviously helped as well. I had a GoFundMe and Anna, my aunt in particular, my mum and dad and a lot of my extended family and friends supported me. I also got a UCD scholarship. I didn't have a lot of money but enough to cover my expenses."

A tough first-round draw in Tokyo meant an early exit but he immediately resolved to still be around for Paris 2024 so that he could sample the kind of atmosphere that enthralled him when he attended London 2012 along with his father.

Once again the draw is going to be crucial with his non seed ranking of 10th meaning he could again face one of the medal favourites - including China's Feng Panfeng, who has never lost during his career and is regarded as the best Paralympic table tennis player.

"He’s one of my idols so I probably wouldn’t want to play him in the first round," said Judge, whose competition will begin on either 1 or 2 September.

"But after that I can beat anyone on my day."

The Irishman goes into the Games after a hugely encouraging display in his final warm-up tournament when finishing runner-up at the Czech Open.

Being chosen as one of Ireland's flagbearers has only heightened the excitement levels and his parents' sense of pride and he is determined to lap up every moment.

"If it goes well, there’s nobody else I’d rather share the success with but if it doesn’t go well and I’m disappointed, there are no two other people I’d rather have by my side," said Judge, who added that he could prolong his sporting career into the LA Games in 2028.