Borislava Perić-Ranković ( sr-cyr, Борислава Перић-Ранковић, born 16 June 1972) is a disabled

Serbia Serbia (, ; Serbian: , , ), officially the Republic of Serbia (Serbian: , , ), is a landlocked country in Southeastern and Central Europe, situated at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin and the Balkans. It shares land borders with Hung ...

table tennis Table tennis, also known as ping-pong and whiff-whaff, is a sport in which two or four players hit a lightweight ball, also known as the ping-pong ball, back and forth across a table using small solid rackets. It takes place on a hard table div ...

player.ITTF Paralympic Table Tennis
/ref> She represented Serbia at the

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing ...

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gather ...

and

2016 Summer Paralympics The 2016 Summer Paralympics (), the 15th Summer Paralympic Games, were a major international multi-sport event for disabled sports, athletes with disabilities governed by the International Paralympic Committee, held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, fro ...

in table tennis, winning one gold and three silver medals. She competes in the disability class 4. In the

she won her first Paralympic gold medal in the individual class 4 competition, defeating China's

Zhang Miao Zhang Miao (died 195), courtesy name Mengzhuo, was a Chinese politician and warlord who lived in the late Eastern Han dynasty of China. Early life and career Zhang Miao was from Shouzhang County (), Dongping Commandery (), which is in present- ...

in the finals. At the

2020 Summer Paralympics The , branded as the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games, was an international multi-sport parasports event held from 24 August to 5 September 2021 in Tokyo, Japan. They were the 16th Summer Paralympic Games as organized by the International Paralym ...

, she won a bronze medal.

Life

Perić-Ranković was born in

Bečej Bečej ( sr-cyrl, Бечеј, ; hu, Óbecse, ) is a town and municipality located in the South Bačka District of the autonomous province of Vojvodina, Serbia. The town has a population of 23,895, while the municipality has 37,351 inhabitants. ...

in 1972. She had a workplace accident in 1994, sustaining

spinal cord injuries A spinal cord injury (SCI) is damage to the spinal cord that causes temporary or permanent changes in its function. Symptoms may include loss of muscle function, sensation, or autonomic function in the parts of the body served by the spinal cor ...

. She has used a

wheelchair A wheelchair is a chair with wheels, used when walking is difficult or impossible due to illness, injury, problems related to old age, or disability. These can include spinal cord injuries (paraplegia, hemiplegia, and quadriplegia), cerebra ...

ever since. She began training table tennis in 2002, and moved to

Novi Sad Novi Sad ( sr-Cyrl, Нови Сад, ; hu, Újvidék, ; german: Neusatz; see below for other names) is the second largest city in Serbia and the capital of the autonomous province of Vojvodina. It is located in the southern portion of the P ...

in 2006 to train with trainer Zlatko Kesler. She has won one gold, one silver and two bronze medals at the 2010 and 2014

World Para Table Tennis Championships The World Para Table Tennis Championships are the world championships for para table tennis where athletes with a disability compete. They are organised by the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) on a four-year rotation with the Paralympic ...

. In 2015, Perić-Ranković received

ITTF Star Award The ITTF Star Awards are annual awards organized by the International Table Tennis Federation to recognize professional table tennis players and coaches. The awards were established in 2013. Awards See also *ITTF World Tour The ITTF World Tour ...

for female para table tennis player of the year. Perić-Ranković will appear on the Together We Can Do Everything ballot list for the 2022 general election, as an independent candidate.

Notes

1972 births Serbian female table tennis players Table tennis players at the 2008 Summer Paralympics Table tennis players at the 2012 Summer Paralympics Table tennis players at the 2016 Summer Paralympics Paralympic table tennis players of Serbia Medalists at the 2008 Summer Paralympics Medalists at the 2012 Summer Paralympics Medalists at the 2016 Summer Paralympics Paralympic medalists in table tennis Paralympic gold medalists for Serbia Paralympic silver medalists for Serbia Living people Table tennis players at the 2020 Summer Paralympics People from Bečej {{Serbia-tabletennis-bio-stub