As the 2019 ITTF European Para Championships get underway in Sweden, one player in particular will be very familiar to British aficionados of televised dancing. Why is this coveted demographic so keen on just one of the many talented athletes vying for tickets to the 2020 Paralympics in Tokyo, you ask? That is because their own Will Bayley, the reigning Class 7 Paralympic gold medalist, is also participating in this year's incarnation of the BBC's "Strictly Come Dancing." (For American readers, this was the predecessor to "Dancing with the Stars.") The charismatic Bayley, once an aspiring actor and always a fan of the limelight, sees great benefit in cross-training with fancy footwork. "I really think it is going to improve me a lot when I'm playing table tennis, because already I'm becoming more aware of my balance and my movement and I'm getting stronger in my core," says Bayley, who suffers from arthrogryposis. "When I'm playing table tennis now I'm thinking more about my balance and the way I stand and using my body to help me in my shots," he elaborated. "It is helping me understand my body more and that can only help with table tennis." Another table tennis legend lacing up the ballroom shoes with an eye toward Tokyo is Denmark's Michael Maze (pictured). A 2004 Olympic bronze medalist in men's doubles, the lefty lob artist reached #8 in the world in 2010. Since then, injuries have taken their toll, even leading Maze to retire in 2016. Now 38, he has since pulled a Bret Favre and un-retired. Ranked a distant 272nd in the world, it will take nothing short of a miracle to raise Maze to Olympic caliber in less than a year. That miracle may well have come in the form of Danish dancing show "Vild Med Dans" ("wild with dance" in Danish). There, Maze will do his best Will Bayley impersonation and try his luck on the nationally syndicated show. “I’m used to dealing with something I’m good at, and now I spend a whole lot of hours on something I can’t figure out," confesses Maze. "I think it is crazy to go in front of most of the people of Denmark and stand razor-sharp and try to put together something that I am not an expert in,” he continued, stressing the stress he is feeling. If both players make it to Tokyo, there can be little doubt that all that dancing paid off.

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