Laurens Devos

Laurens Devos
Personal information
Nationality	Belgian
Born	15 August 2000 (age 21); Malle, Belgium
Height	165 cm (5 ft 5 in)
Sport
Country	Belgium
Sport	Para table tennis
Disability	Mild hemiplegia
Disability class	C9
Club	Sokah Hoboken
Coached by	Carlo Agnello
hide Medal record
Para table tennis
Representing Belgium
Paralympic Games
World Championships
European Championships

Laurens Devos (born 15 August 2000) is a Belgian table tennis player who was the Paralympic champion in men's singles class 9. He has also won four European titles and most recently, a world title for his country.

Laurens Devos lives in Oostmalle.^[1]^[2] The son of Mario Devos and Christel, he has 2 brothers and a twin sister, Isabel. His 6 years older brother is as of 14 September 2016 the second-highest ranked able-bodied Belgian table tennis player, ranked number 119 on the World Ranking.^[3]

Caused by a lack of oxygen at birth, Laurens suffers from mild hemiplegia which results in a loss of mobility on the right side of his body.^[4]^[5] He plays left-handed. He studies at the Topsportschool in Leuven, where he is the only student with a disability.^[6]

Sporting career[]

Laurens Devos was ranked world number 2 in his class before going to the Paralympics. In 2014 he won the GDF Suez Trophy (the award for most promising young Belgian para-athlete).^[7] He won the 2015 European Championships in Vejle, Denmark.^[1]^[2] He is national table tennis champion in his age category (able-bodied category).^[5]^[6]

With his victory over Dutch Gerben Last in 3 straight sets, Devos became the youngest player ever to win table tennis gold at the Paralympics.^[8]

At the 2016 ITTF Star Awards, Devos won Male Para Table Tennis Star, the award for Paralympic table tennis player of the year.^[9]

Devos reached the first round of the 2016 World Junior Table Tennis Championships, but then lost 4-3 from the Austrian Andreas Levenko.^[10]

On 17 December 2016, Devos was named the Paralympian of the Year at the Belgian Sportsman of the year ceremony.^[11]

He won his first world championship title in 2018 in Lasko, Slovenia by defeating Iurii Nozdrunov of Russia.^[12]

External links[]

Laurens Devos - Cœur Handisport

Notes[]

^ Jump up to: ^a ^b Matthyssen, Kristin (12 September 2016). "Familie Laurens Devos stomverbaasd over gouden plak: "Bangelijk!"". Gazet van Antwerpen (in Dutch). Retrieved 14 September 2016.
^ Jump up to: ^a ^b "Laurens Devos" (in Dutch). Sporza.be. 31 August 2016. Retrieved 12 September 2016.
^ "World Ranking". International Table Tennis Federation. Archived from the original on 7 April 2014. Retrieved 14 September 2016.
^ "Laurens Devos, un ado en or". La Libre Belgique (in French). 12 September 2016.
^ Jump up to: ^a ^b Bernaers, Dieter (13 September 2016). "Mentaliteit wint van fysieke drempels". De Morgen (in Dutch). Retrieved 14 September 2016.
^ Jump up to: ^a ^b Frans, Koen (13 September 2016). ""Laurens kan ook medailles winnen op de gewone Olympische Spelen"". Sport Planet (in Dutch). Retrieved 14 September 2016.
^ "Rolstoelatlete Marieke Vervoort laureate Nationale Trofee Victor Boin 2014". De Morgen. Belga. 11 March 2015. Retrieved 14 September 2016.
^ "Belgium's Laurens Devos makes table tennis history". Paralympic.org. 12 September 2016. Retrieved 12 September 2016.
^ "Laurens Devos wint internationale Star Award" (in Dutch). De Morgen. Belga. 8 December 2016. Retrieved 12 December 2016.
^ "Cnudde naar tweede ronde in enkelspel op WK tafeltennis voor junioren, Loyen en Lung naar kwartfinales in dubbelspel" (in Dutch). Het Belang van Limburg. Belga. 5 December 2016. Retrieved 12 December 2016.
^ Belgian Paralympic Committee (19 December 2016). "Laurens Devos named Belgian Paralympian of the Year". International Paralympic Committee. Retrieved 20 December 2016.
^ "Newly crowned World champion, another quest starts Laurens Devos". ITTF.com. 23 October 2018.

[Matthyssen-1] Jump up to: ^a ^b Matthyssen, Kristin (12 September 2016). "Familie Laurens Devos stomverbaasd over gouden plak: "Bangelijk!"". Gazet van Antwerpen (in Dutch). Retrieved 14 September 2016.

[Steekkaart-2] Jump up to: ^a ^b "Laurens Devos" (in Dutch). Sporza.be. 31 August 2016. Retrieved 12 September 2016.

[3] "World Ranking". International Table Tennis Federation. Archived from the original on 7 April 2014. Retrieved 14 September 2016.

[Libre-4] "Laurens Devos, un ado en or". La Libre Belgique (in French). 12 September 2016.

[Bernaers-5] Jump up to: ^a ^b Bernaers, Dieter (13 September 2016). "Mentaliteit wint van fysieke drempels". De Morgen (in Dutch). Retrieved 14 September 2016.

[Frans-6] Jump up to: ^a ^b Frans, Koen (13 September 2016). ""Laurens kan ook medailles winnen op de gewone Olympische Spelen"". Sport Planet (in Dutch). Retrieved 14 September 2016.

[7] "Rolstoelatlete Marieke Vervoort laureate Nationale Trofee Victor Boin 2014". De Morgen. Belga. 11 March 2015. Retrieved 14 September 2016.

[8] "Belgium's Laurens Devos makes table tennis history". Paralympic.org. 12 September 2016. Retrieved 12 September 2016.

[9] "Laurens Devos wint internationale Star Award" (in Dutch). De Morgen. Belga. 8 December 2016. Retrieved 12 December 2016.

[10] "Cnudde naar tweede ronde in enkelspel op WK tafeltennis voor junioren, Loyen en Lung naar kwartfinales in dubbelspel" (in Dutch). Het Belang van Limburg. Belga. 5 December 2016. Retrieved 12 December 2016.

[11] Belgian Paralympic Committee (19 December 2016). "Laurens Devos named Belgian Paralympian of the Year". International Paralympic Committee. Retrieved 20 December 2016.

[12] "Newly crowned World champion, another quest starts Laurens Devos". ITTF.com. 23 October 2018.

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show v t Belgian Sportsperson of the Year
Men	1967 Ferdinand Bracke 1968 Serge Reding 1969–1974 Eddy Merckx 1975 Bruno Brokken 1976 Ivo Van Damme 1977 Michel Pollentier 1978 Raymond Ceulemans 1979–1980 Robert Van de Walle 1981 Freddy Maertens 1982 Jacky Ickx 1983 Eddy Annys 1984 Claude Criquielion 1985 Gaston Rahier & Vincent Rousseau 1986 William Van Dijck 1987 Georges Jobé 1988 Eric Geboers 1989 Thierry Boutsen 1990 Rudy Dhaenens 1991 Jean-Michel Saive 1992 Georges Jobé 1993 Vincent Rousseau 1994 Jean-Michel Saive 1995–1996 Fred Deburghgraeve 1997 Luc Van Lierde 1998 Fred Deburghgraeve 1999 Luc Van Lierde 2000 Joël Smets 2001–2004 Stefan Everts 2005 Tom Boonen 2006 Stefan Everts 2007 Tom Boonen 2008 Sven Nys 2009–2011 Philippe Gilbert 2012 Tom Boonen 2013 Frederik Van Lierde 2014 Thibaut Courtois 2015 Kevin De Bruyne 2016 Greg Van Avermaet 2017 David Goffin 2018 Eden Hazard 2019 Remco Evenepoel 2020 Wout van Aert
Women	1975 Carine Verbauwen 1976–1977 Anne-Marie Pira 1978–1979 Carine Verbauwen 1980 Ingrid Berghmans 1981 Annie Lambrechts 1982–1986 Ingrid Berghmans 1987 Ingrid Lempereur 1988–1989 Ingrid Berghmans 1990–1991 Sabine Appelmans 1992 Annelies Bredael 1993 Gella Vandecaveye 1994–1995 Brigitte Becue 1996 Ulla Werbrouck 1997 Gella Vandecaveye 1998 Dominique Monami 1999–2002 Kim Clijsters 2003–2004 Justine Henin-Hardenne 2005 Kim Clijsters 2006–2007 Justine Henin-Hardenne 2008 Tia Hellebaut 2009–2011 Kim Clijsters 2012 Evi Van Acker 2013 Kirsten Flipkens 2014 Nafissatou Thiam 2015 Delfine Persoon 2016–2017 Nafissatou Thiam 2018–2019 Nina Derwael 2020 Emma Meesseman
Team	1997 Noliko Maaseik 1998 Motocross team 1999 Davis Cup team 2000 Anderlecht 2001 Fed Cup team 2002 La Villette 2003 Motocross team 2004 Women's 4×100 metres relay 2005 Men's under-21 football team 2006 Fed Cup team 2007–2008 Women's 4×100 metres relay 2009–2011 Men's 4×400 metres relay 2012 Men's field hockey team 2013–2014 Men's football team 2015 Davis Cup team 2016 Men's field hockey team 2017 Davis Cup team 2018–2019 Men's field hockey team 2020 Women's national basketball team
Talent	1998 Kim Clijsters 1999 Bart Wellens 2000 Bart Aernouts 2001 Jurgen Van den Broeck 2002 Thomas Buffel 2003 Kirsten Flipkens 2004 Aagje Vanwalleghem 2005 Niels Albert 2006 Yoris Grandjean 2007 Dominique Cornu 2008 Elise Matthysen 2009 Romelu Lukaku 2010 Luca Brecel 2011 Thomas van der Plaetsen 2012 Kimmer Coppejans 2013 Nafissatou Thiam 2014 Divock Origi 2015 Tiesj Benoot 2016 Louise Carton 2017 Lotte Kopecky 2018 Remco Evenepoel 2019 Yari Verschaeren 2020 Charles De Ketelaere
Paralympic	2010 Sven Decaesstecker 2011 2012 Marieke Vervoort 2013 Joachim Gérard 2014 Michèle George 2015 Marieke Vervoort 2016 Laurens Devos 2017–2018 Peter Genyn 2019-2020 Joachim Gérard
Coach	2011–2012 Jacques Borlée 2013–2014 Marc Wilmots 2015 Hein Vanhaezebrouck 2016–2017 Roger Lespagnard 2018 Roberto Martínez 2019 Shane Mcleod 2020 Philip Mestdagh