It’s hard to think of her long career and imagine her as a Commonwealth Games debutant, but that’s what Danni Di Toro (table tennis) was in Birmingham where she contested the women’s classes 3-5 singles. Danni is a seven-time Paralympian, representing Australia in wheelchair tennis from 1996 through 2012 – claiming silver in the women’s doubles at Sydney 2000 and bronze in singles in Athens in 2004. She switched to table tennis for the Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020 Games. Danni became a paraplegic after a brick wall collapsed on her at a school swimming carnival when she was 13. A meeting with Australian Rollers wheelchair basketball gold medallist Sandy Blythe during rehab led her back to sport. Danni started playing wheelchair tennis when she was nine, eventually rising to world no. 1 and winning the French Open doubles title in 2010. However, a hit with Melissa Tapper at the London 2012 Paralympics planted the idea of playing table tennis and she switched sports in 2015. She was selected for the Rio 2016 Paralympics where she was joint team captain with Kurt Fearnley and was joint team captain again in Tokyo, this time with Ryley Batt. She also carried the flag at the Opening Ceremony in Tokyo. Danni plays at the Coburg Table Tennis Club where she is coached by Maggie Meng and Brian Berry.