Just to save you the trouble of checking, let's get straight to the point. There is absolutely no mention of ping-pong in the Hippocratic Oath. Although Hippocrates was alive during the age of the original Olympics, he did not mention table tennis or any other Olympic sport, let alone what to do when one of them creates a dilemma for a healer. This is not news to Dr. Kim Daybell (pictured), who completed his medical degree in between representing Great Britain in the 2012 and 2016 Paralympics, Class 10 (standing). Nevertheless, he must have at least wondered what old Hippocrates might have advised him to do last March. As the then-27-year-old Daybell began training for his third Paralympic appearance, the world fell into the grips of the COVID-19 pandemic. Seeing his fellow Britons falling sick and dying from the mysterious new disease, the young doctor did not hesitate to scrub up and stand on the front line. Daybell suspended his training for six months to work full-time at London's Whittington Hospital, caring for the surge of sick and dying patients. "Every day they open up another ward to be a coronavirus ward and most wards are filling up by the day," reported the exhausted doctor. Although he could have spent the year tuning up for a medal run at the postponed Tokyo Paralympics, to be held this August-September, Daybell knows there are more important things in life. "I want to try and help as best I can and it is quite nice to be able to do that," he reflects. "I’m lucky to have the skill-set to help fight what is going on... Obviously table tennis has completely taken a back seat now and sport has as well but it will always be there for me." Although Daybell resumed his training in October, he continues in his brave commitment to the public health. For his efforts and personal sacrifice, Daybell was one of three British athletes recognized with the 2020 National Lottery Spirit of Sport award at the 71st British Sports Awards. "This has obviously been a very difficult year," said Daybell. "Everyone has been struggling and there hasn’t been a huge amount to celebrate, so it is really nice to have the work that we have done recognized." Not that he needed to ask, but Dr. Kim Daybell would certainly receive an approving nod from Hippocrates as well.

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