A class 3 athlete, Thomas Schmidberger received his award, presented by Tinsue, following a truly exceptional year at continental and global level.

In action at Para Open events in Italy, Poland and Egypt, Schmidberger not only emerged as the class 3 singles champion at all three competitions but on each occasion also collected team titles. He then followed suit at the 2019 ITTF European Para Championships in Halmstad, earning class 3 singles and team gold.

In October 2019 Schmidberger was rewarded with his place at the top of the class 3 world rankings and now ends the year with another accolade to his name.

An honourable mention goes to Great Britain’s Rob Davies (class 1) and China’s Yan Shuo (class 7) who were also nominated for the award.

World no.1 on the women’s class 2 rankings list since October 2019, Giada Rossi’s year has also proved profitable; she has enjoyed title success after title success.

Not only did Rossi secure class 2 gold at the Para Opens in Italy and the Netherlands but also she added the class 1-2 gold medal on offer in the Czech Republic.

However, Rossi’s stand out moment of the year came at the 2019 ITTF European Para Championships, winning the class 2 singles trophy, whilst also collecting class 1-3 team bronze in Halmstad.

The other players who received nominations for the award were Chile’s Tamara Leonelli (class 5) and China’s Wang Rui (class 7).