MILLY Tapper is in pursuit of a spot on Australia’s Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic teams, in what shapes to be her final year of international competition.

The Hamilton product recently returned from the Solomon Islands, where she made it through to the final of the ITTF Oceania Para Table Tennis Championships, but lost to Aussie teammate and world number one, Qian Yang.

The 33-year-old told The Spectator she still has avenues to qualify for Paris in what would be Tapper’s fourth consecutive Paralympic appearance, dating back to London in 2012.

Should the table tennis star also qualify for the Olympics, it will be her second time in the green and gold

“It was a qualifier for Paris, it was a tough competition … I missed automatic qualification there but will probably spend most of March in Europe and try to get my world ranking high enough to qualify,” she said.

“If I fall short of that, I have one more shot at the end of May at a world qualification event for the Paralympics.

“That same month as well will be the Australian Olympic qualification event, I figure we may as well (try for both), I am definitely putting 2024 as my last year for international competition, so I would love to qualify for both the Olympics and Paralympics if I can get my level back up there, and if not, hopefully I can qualify for one of them.

“There are three of us girls and we are fighting for two world ranking slots, so it is a difficult slog ahead, but it is not meant to be easy, so it is a fun little challenge to try and qualify.”

As the schedule ramps up entering an Olympic year, Tapper has already notched up the frequent flyer miles prior to last month’s trip to Honiara.

“I have had a couple of trips this year, South Africa earlier on, South Korea a few months ago, so am looking forward to living out of my wardrobe, rather than my suitcase for a little while,” Tapper said.

“I have been focusing on making sure I get back to spend time with the family, planning on spending two weeks between Hamilton and Port Fairy over Christmas.”

The decision to farewell the sport as a player in 2024 has been made with hopes of transitioning into coaching.

“I think it is something that started brewing, across my career I probably thought I could have retired multiple times already,” Tapper said.

“I am very satisfied for what I have been able to achieve so far, if I can tick one more off, that is the absolute cherry on top of the cake.

“There is only so much more my head and my body can take, my heart still has plenty left in it, but I think that energy will go into the sport in a different kind of capacity.”