Tapper to contest Comm Games table tennis

Glasgow 2014 bronze medallist Melissa Tapper and five-time Olympian Jian Fang Lay will lead Australia's table tennis charge at the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games.

World No.195 Tapper will become the first Australian to contest both able-bodied and para competitions at a Commonwealth Games after doing so at the 2016 Olympics.

"I was lucky enough to be able to compete for Australia at the Rio Olympics and Paralympics in both the able-bodied and para competitions and I'm going to be doing it again on the Gold Coast in April," said Tapper, who was born with brachial plexus (nerve related).

"We have a very strong team representing Australia in table tennis and I'm lucky to be included in it."

The 44-year-old Lay heads into the Games in April after boosting her world ranking 52 places to 66 after a top-20 finish at October's World Cup in Canada.

Victorian David Powell is the highest-ranked men's team member at 119 and will lead the men's team alongside fellow Rio Olympians Heming Hu and Chris Yan.

AUSTRALIAN TABLE TENNIS TEAM: Men - Heming Hu, David Powell, Chris Yan, Trent Carter, Kane Townsend. Women - Jian Fang Lay, Melissa Tapper, Tracy Feng, Miao Miao, Michelle Bromley.