by Ian Marshall, Editor

Winner of the Male Para Player of the Year at the ITTF Star Awards Evening in Lisbon in 2015, he will defend the Men’s Singles title won four years ago when the tournament was staged in Incheon, Republic of Korea; on that occasion, he won the Class 10 event.

Also from Indonesia the name of Agus Sutanto appears on the Jakarta entry list; in 2014 he was crowned the Class 5 champion. However, since his success in Incheon, Agus Sutanto has not claimed a major title, his best performance being arguably in 2016 at the Lignano Masters in Italy when he was a silver medallist.

Rather differently, in Amman, Jordan at the 2015 Asian Para Championships, David Jacobs struck gold, before last year collecting no less than five titles at International Para Tournaments. Competing in Class 10 he won the Men’s Singles event in El Prat de Llobregat, before also in Spain in Alicante repeating the success whilst also partnering Russia’s Pavel Lukyanov to Men’s Team Class 10 gold.

Similarly, later in the year at the United para States Open he repeated the Alicante success. He secured the Men’s Singles Class 10 title prior to joining forces with colleagues Komet Akbar and Kusnanto to claim Men’s Team Class 9-10 success; both Komet Akbar and Kusnanto compete in Jakarta.

Notably the venue for the United States Para Open was Las Vegas; earlier this year in June he returned to the celebrated city and celebrated again, he won the Men’s Singles 40 to 44 Years title at the World Veteran Championships.

A win in Jakarta, moreover on home soil, would complete a unique double in fact a unique treble!