FIJI’S Mere Roden is among the leading title contenders for this week’s Fiji Table Tennis Association Para Open in Suva.

Oceania Para Table Tennis development officer Christian Holtz is expecting strong shows from Roden and New Zealand’s James Goulding.

“We can expect some exciting matches in the Para Open next week,” he said.

“James has secured a spot in the Rio Paralympics and Mere will most likely qualify as a wild card.”

Holtz conducted a regional para table tennis training camp in Suva last week for participants from nine Oceania nations including Australia, New Zealand, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, Fiji, Kiribati, New Caledonia, Samoa and Tuvalu.

Close to 30 athletes from the nine nations will face-off in the Para Open which will be played concurrently with the Fiji Open.

“I’m very excited about the competition and I’m 100 per cent looking forward,” Roden said.

“We will have professionally trained athletes from the South Pacific so I’m expecting high level of competition.

“I look up to the Lord and he’s the best mentor,” she said.

Roden, who is confined to a wheelchair because of a spinal injury, recently participated in a Paralympic qualifier in China.

“It was a good learning experience for me,” she said.