David Jacobs, The Best Indonesian Paralympic Table Tennis Player

       Indonesian Para table tennis player, David Jacobs is one of the athletes who always try hard to keep the spirit alive. Despite being 40 years old, this man played a major role in bringing the  Indonesian table tennis team to number one in the ASEAN Para Games 2017.

       His full name, Dian David Michael Jacobs stated if he can still compete with other international table tennis athletes in the event of the biennial event of the ASEAN member countries.This persons,the man who was born in Ujung Pandang, June 21st, 1977 charged gold medal target from the men's singles and teams.David managed to make it happen by presenting   2/14 pieces of gold medals Indonesian table tennis team.

              
       Before becoming one of Indonesia's professional table tennis player, David has known this sport since the age of 10 years. He follows in the footsteps of his three older siblings Rano, Pierre, and Joe. At the age of 11 years, he was registered at PTP Club Semarang and had won the match in

elementary school level  in Central Java. Since moving to Jakarta in the 1st grade of junior high school, his ability is more attractive. Despite being born with an imperfect right-handed condition, he always practices and competes with normal players in Indonesia.

        Because of  his persistence, he became part of the Jakarta Junior Team. In 1997, he studied in Beijing, China for 6 months.David for the first time became a national champion and representing the national team to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.At National Sports Week 2000,He won a silver medal.He also won a silver medal at the 2005 SEA Games and a bronze medal at the 2009 SEA Games. In National Sports Week 2004, the graduate of STIE Perbanas Jakarta won a gold medal that led him to become an employee in Jakarta Sports Department.

          David is well respected in the arena of table tennis. Despite being paralympic player, David played at the 2001, 2003, 2005, 2007 and 2009 SEA Games with the highest achievement of silver medal.In 2010, David passed the test and officially became a member of the National Paralympic Committee (NPC) with a classification of 10.David achieved many achievements by following various games. The result, he became champion in Thailand, runner-up in Beijing, and achieved third place in the Czech Republic. In addition, he became runner-up in the UK and became champion in Taiwan.   

         David successfully obtained seven gold medals that led him into the top 10 of the world Para table tennis player who qualified for the 2012 Paralympics.This achievement leads him to the world number three table tennis and is on the list of leading players. David scored history when he became the first Indonesian table tennis player to win a medal at the London, England, 2012 Paralympics 2012. David again recorded history when he was asked as the world's best Paralympic player. In the awards ceremony titled ITTF Star Awards 2015 ITTF Star Awads 2015 held at Patio de Gala, Lisbon, Portugal on December 9th, 2015, David won the Male Table Tennis Star of the Year or Men’s Best Table Tennis Player.

           Based on ITTF's latest data, Jacobs is ranked 2^nd in the world's 10th class, under Patryk Chojnowski (Poland) in first place. Besides David, another Indonesian tennis player in the top 20 ITTF Para athletes is Comet Akbar in the # 18.

*the facts reference :  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Jacobs_(table_tennis)

-Arief Nuryanto/16202241043-