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Rob Davies (table tennis)

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Rob Davies
MBE
Personal information
Birth nameRobert Rhys Davies[1]
NationalityBritish
Born (1984-08-14) 14 August 1984 (age 40)
Abergavenny, Wales
Sport
CountryGreat Britain
SportTable tennis
EventClass 1 singles
Achievements and titles
Paralympic finals2012 2016
Highest world ranking1st
Medal record
Representing  Great Britain
table tennis
Summer Paralympics
Gold medal – first place 2016 Rio de Janeiro Men's Singles – Class 1
European Championships
Silver medal – second place 2011 Split Men's team – Class 1–2
Gold medal – first place 2013 Italy Men's team – Class 1–2
Gold medal – first place 2013 Italy Men's Singles – Class 1
Gold medal – first place 2015 Vejle Men's Singles – Class 1
Gold medal – first place 2015 Vejle Men's team – Class 1–2

Robert Rhys Davies MBE (born 14 August 1984) is a British Paralympic table tennis player. Davies, who has played table tennis competitively since 2007, was selected for the 2012 Paralympic Games. After winning the 2013 European Championship title in both singles and team events, he was named world number 1 in the class-1 category.

Personal history

Davies was born in Abergavenny in 1984. He has a twin brother, Richard. A semi-professional rugby player, Davies played at hooker for Brecon RFC. In September 2005, while playing in a home game against Ynysybwl RFC, a collapsed scrum left him with a broken neck.[2] He was air-lifted to hospital by a helicopter, which half an hour earlier had rescued his twin brother from a road accident.[3] Davies was treated at the University Hospital of Wales where he was initially informed that he would not recover movement in his legs and arms. After moving to Rookwood Hospital specialist spinal unit in Llandaff, he regained some use in his arms and hands.[2] During his rehabilitation he met Welsh table tennis player Sara Head who introduced him to the sport.[4]

Table tennis career

Davies, who plays with the paddle strapped to his hand, joined the Great Britain team in 2007, competing in class 1 single events, and class 1–2 team events. In 2011 he competed in the British table tennis open and took the gold in the Men's Single class 1 category. That same year he entered the European Championships in Split, Croatia. He and fellow British player Paul Davies took the silver medal in the class 1 Men's Team competition.[4] In 2012 he represented Great Britain at the 2012 Summer Paralympics in London, where in the preliminaries he beat Philip Quinlan of Ireland, but a loss to Jean-Francois Ducay of France saw him come second in his league and he failed to advance to the knockout stages.

In 2012 Davies travelled to Italy to compete in the 2012 European Championships. There he picked up two gold medals, in the men's singles and, again with Paul Davies, the Men's team 1–2 class.[5] Following his European success, in October 2013, Davies was confirmed as the world number one in the class-1 category, having beaten the previous holder, Holger Nikelis of Germany, in the semi-finals in Italy.[5] Two years later Davies defended his European title beating France's Jean-Francois Ducay 3–2 in the Class 1 final in Vejle, Denmark.[6] He followed this by retaining his team gold, this time alongside fellow Welshman Tom Matthews.[7]
At the Rio de Janeiro paralympics in 2016, Davies won Gold by beating Korean Young Dae Joo in the final.

Davis was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2017 New Year Honours for services to table tennis.[8]

References

  1. ^ "New Year's Honours list 2017" (PDF). Government of the United Kingdom. 30 December 2016. p. 54. Retrieved 31 December 2016.
  2. ^ a b Bevan, Nathan (25 August 2013). "Rugby player's fight to the top of wheelchair sport after on-pitch neck break leaves him paralysed". Glamorgan Gazette. walesonline.co.uk. Retrieved 27 October 2013.
  3. ^ Hope, Nick (30 September 2013). "Paralympian Rob Davies wins European table tennis gold". BBC. Retrieved 27 October 2013.
  4. ^ a b "Rob Davies". British Paralympic Association. Retrieved 27 October 2013.
  5. ^ a b "Wales' Rob Davies becomes Para table tennis world number one". BBC. 21 October 2013. Retrieved 27 October 2013.
  6. ^ "Rob Davies earns Rio Paralympic table tennis place". BBC. 14 October 2015. Retrieved 16 October 2015.
  7. ^ "Rob Davies claims second European gold in para table tennis". BBC. 17 October 2015. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
  8. ^ "No. 61803". The London Gazette (Supplement). 31 December 2016. p. N17.
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