Paralympic champion Holger Nikelis is aiming for third World Championships gold

The para-table tennis teams of Switzerland and Germany have made their way to Beijing, China, for the 2014 ITTF Para Table Tennis World Championships, taking place from 6-15 September.

Paralympic champion Holger Nikelis (men’s class 1) is part of the 14-strong German delegation competing in Beijing. Ranked third in the world, Nikelis is one of the gold medal favourites in his class together with Great Britain’s world No. 1 Robert Davies and France’s Jean-Francois Ducay, ranked second in the world.

Together with compatriot Marcus Sieger, Nikelis will also take part in the team competition.

Other German medal hopefuls include Paralympic champion Jochen Wollmert (men’s class 7), who beat home favourite Will Bayley in the final at the London 2012 Paralympic Games, world No 2 Thomas Schmidberger (men’s class 3), and world No.4 Juliane Wolf (women’s class 8).

Switzerland is sending two players to Beijing. Silvio Keller is in the same class as Nikelis, and after finishing fifth in London in 2012, has set his minimum goal of reaching the quarterfinals.

Keller’s teammate Valentin Kneuss (men’s class 6) qualified for the first time for a World Championships and is looking for a successful debut.

Beijing will welcome more than 314 athletes from more than 48 countries for the 2014 ITTF Para Table Tennis World Championships.