Paul Lyall

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Paul Lyall (1944–2021) was a British para table tennis player who won six Paralympic medals, including three golds, across three Games. He was born in Writtle, near Chelmsford, England, and grew up in East Anglia. A motorbike accident in 1960 left him paralysed and using a wheelchair. After nine months in Stoke Mandeville Hospital, he was introduced to wheelchair table tennis and trained by a former county player, starting his rapid rise in the sport.

Lyall represented Great Britain at the Paralympics in 1964 (Tokyo), 1968 (Tel Aviv), and 1972 (Heidelberg). At Tokyo he won two gold medals (singles and doubles). In Tel Aviv he won gold in singles and a silver in doubles. In Heidelberg he earned bronze medals in both singles and the team event. In total, he collected six Paralympic medals, including three golds, and he became one of Britain’s legends of the early Paralympic era.

He also won two gold medals at the 1966 Commonwealth Games in Kingston, Jamaica, in singles and doubles (with Phillip Lewis). Lyall retired after the 1972 Games. He passed away on 24 December 2021 in Ruislip, Middlesex, aged about 77.