World’s best Para table tennis players recognised

Turkey’s Neslihan Kavas and Ukraine’s Viktor Didukh picked up the female and male Para Table Tennis Star Awards respectively at the glittering 2017 International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) Star Awards in Astana, Kazakhstan.

The year ending gala dinner and award ceremony on 14 December recognised and celebrated achievements of players and coaches over the past year.

Kavas was crowned the Female Para Table Tennis Star presented by Stag International after a successful year on the international Para table tennis scene. This included winning silver in the Class 9 event at the World Para Table Tennis Team Championships and claiming both the Singles Class 9 & Team Class 9-10 gold medals at the 2017 European Para Table Tennis Championships.

Class 8 world No. 1 Viktor Didukh took home the Male Para Table Tennis Star award presented by Tinsue after winning several titles at various Para table tennis Open & Championships events around the world. Didukh represented Ukraine on the ITTF World Tour prior to being diagnosed with cancer in 2008 that led to the amputation of his left leg.

Other winners on the night included:

Male Table Tennis Star: Timo Boll (GER)

Female Table Tennis Star: Ning Ding (CHN)

Star Point: Ning Ding (CHN)

Breakthrough Star: Tomokazu Harimoto (JPN)

Star Coach: Jorg Rosskopf (GER)

Fair Play Star: Irvin Bertrand (FRA)

Full details about the awards ceremony can be found on the ITTF website.