An incredible Paralympian has left viewers stunned after holding a table tennis bat with his mouth.
Ibrahim Hamadtou, 48, from Egypt, is a table tennis player and two-time Olympian, who plays the game by placing the bat in his mouth, and his unbelievable skills have gone viral on social media, Straits Times reports.
While he didn't win a medal at this year's Paralympics, losing on Friday, August 27, to China's Chen Chao, the athlete, who lost both of his arms during a childhood accident, has become one of the game's most inspiring stories nonetheless.
"It is an honor to play against a Chinese player. All the Chinese players are really strong," he said of Friday's loss in the men's singles.
Hamadtou also lost on Wednesday, August 25, to South Korea's Park Hong-kyu, who also features in the viral footage.
"Hamadtou gets better every time he competes. From now on, we will start to work for the Paris Paralympics," his coach Hossam El Shobary said.
Watch Hamadtou compete in the 2020 Paralympics below:The viral video has been viewed more than 181K times on Twitter since it was posted on August 25. The clip was captioned: "Remember when we complain and we make excuses? Then there's this guy.... Ibrahim Hamadtou!!! Show this to kids, to adults, to everyone [sic]. Inspirational."
Needless to say, the video's original poster was not the only person stunned by the footage of the athlete playing with the bat in his mouth.
One Twitter user wrote: "Incredible Man! Respect!"
Meanwhile, another added: "I'm more impressed with his serve. Fair play to him and those that supported him growing up."
Per Channel 4 Sport, it took the player a year to learn how to play tennis with the racket in his mouth, but as the video above shows, his skills quickly went from strength to strength.
While Hamadtou did originally play football and table tennis, he had to give up the former as "football is too dangerous for him", said his coach El Shobar.
"With no arms, he cannot protect himself when he falls," he added.
After a cruel comment from a friend, where he was told to pursue a game he was "capable of", Hamadtou decided to hush the critics.
"One of my friends said, 'Why don't you do something you're capable of', and that fired me up to decide to play table tennis. I wanted to prove that I can do it," he said.
"With practice and playing regularly, my skill improved."
The athlete is now hoping that his story, and, in particular, the viral video of him playing, will send a positive message to the world.
"There's no impossible," he added.
