Monique Kalkman-Van den Bosch (born 28 November 1964) is a Dutch former professional

wheelchair tennis Wheelchair tennis is one of the forms of tennis adapted for wheelchair users. The size of the court, net height and rackets are the same, but there are two major differences from pedestrian tennis: athletes use specially designed wheelchairs, a ...

and table tennis player. Monique competed at the Paralympics in

1984 Events January * January 1 – The Bornean Sultanate of Brunei gains full independence from the United Kingdom, having become a British protectorate in 1888. * January 7 – Brunei becomes the sixth member of the Association of Southeast A ...

1988 File:1988 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The oil platform Piper Alpha explodes and collapses in the North Sea, killing 165 workers; The USS Vincennes (CG-49) mistakenly shoots down Iran Air Flight 655; Australia celebrates its Australian ...

1992 File:1992 Events Collage V1.png, From left, clockwise: 1992 Los Angeles riots, Riots break out across Los Angeles, California after the Police brutality, police beating of Rodney King; El Al Flight 1862 crashes into a residential apartment buildi ...

and

1996 File:1996 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: A Centennial Olympic Park bombing, bomb explodes at Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta, set off by a radical Anti-abortion violence, anti-abortionist; The center fuel tank explodes on TWA Flight 8 ...

. In 2017, she was inducted into the

International Tennis Hall of Fame The International Tennis Hall of Fame is located in Newport, Rhode Island, United States. It honors both players and other contributors to the sport of tennis. The complex, the former Newport Casino, includes a museum, grass tennis courts, an indo ...

Biography

Monique Van den Bosch was diagnosed with cancer due to

paraplegia Paraplegia, or paraparesis, is an impairment in motor or sensory function of the lower extremities. The word comes from Ionic Greek () "half-stricken". It is usually caused by spinal cord injury or a congenital condition that affects the neural ...

when she was just 14 years old. Initially she took the sport of table tennis during her childhood age before becoming a professional wheelchair tennis player. At the age of 20, she made her Paralympic debut during the

1984 Summer Paralympics The 1984 International Games for the Disabled, canonically the 1984 Summer Paralympics were the seventh Paralympic Games to be held. There were two separate competitions: one in Stoke Mandeville, England, United Kingdom for wheelchair athletes ...

and competed in the table tennis events.

Career

Monique Kalkman clinched a gold and a bronze medal in the women's table tennis competitions as a part of the 1984 Summer Paralympics. She then competed at the

1988 Summer Paralympics The 1988 Summer Paralympics () were the first Paralympics in 24 years to take place in the same city as the Olympic Games. They took place in Seoul, South Korea. This was the first time the term "Paralympic" was used officially. Bidding proc ...

as a wheelchair tennis player and claimed a gold medal in the women's singles though the event was a demonstration sport at the 1988 Summer Paralympics. Monique Van den Bosch continued her medal hunt at the Summer Paralympics as she claimed gold medals in the women's singles and women's doubles partnering with

Chantal Vandierendonck Chantal Vandierendonck (born 31 January 1965) is a Dutch former professional wheelchair tennis player. Vandierendonck won various wheelchair tennis championships held by the International Tennis Federation and multiple Wheelchair tennis at the Su ...

at the

1992 Summer Paralympics )( es, Deporte Sin Límites) , nations = 82 (BCN)75 (MAD) , athletes = 3,020 (BCN)1,600 (MAD) , opened_by = Queen Sofía , opening = 3 September (BCN)15 September (MAD) , closing = 14 September (BCN)22 September (MAD) , even ...

. She also won the ITF World Titles in 1992, 1993, 1994 and 1995.

Post career

In 1997, she was advised by the doctors to play golf as she had paraplegia disease. She retired from playing wheelchair tennis championships in 1997 and started to play golf during her leisure times. She also founded the Going4Golf, a golf foundation which aims to promote the golf sport for people with disabilities.

References

External links