Desmond Douglas MBE | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Nationality | English British | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Born | Jamaica | 20 July 1955|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Desmond Douglas MBE (born 20 July 1955 [1] in Jamaica) is a British table tennis player. He lived and was brought up in the area of Handsworth, Birmingham, West Midlands. He was an attacking, left-handed, player, notable for his scissor jump smash. He was famous for his use of close to the table blocks on the backhand side, mixing pace with powerful topspin from his forehand side. [2]
Douglas was 11 times English Table Tennis champion, who peaked at equal World No. 7 and European No. 3. He represented Great Britain at the 1988 Seoul Olympics, in both the singles and the doubles, where he was partnered by Sky Andrew. Douglas played professionally in The West German Bundesliga for eight years, between 1977-1985. [3] [4] [5]
Douglas is still actively involved in table tennis, coaching throughout the country, including training some of the top young British prospects at the Youth Development Squad. He also coaches at Sutton Coldfield College and Woodfield Table Tennis Club, Wolverhampton, Albrighton table tennis club, Albrighton
Douglas was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 1987 Birthday Honours, for services to table tennis. [6] He lives in Walsall, West Midlands.
Cyrille Regis was a professional footballer who played as a forward. His professional playing career spanned 19 years, where he made 614 league appearances and scored 158 league goals, most prolifically at West Bromwich Albion and Coventry City. Born in French Guiana, Regis also won five caps with the England national team.
David Andrew Wilkie was a Scottish swimmer who was the Olympic 200m breaststroke champion in 1976, the first British swimmer to win an Olympic gold medal since Anita Lonsbrough in 1960. He is the only person to have held British, Commonwealth, European, World and Olympic swimming titles at the same time. Wilkie, a member of the Scottish Sports Hall of Fame and the International Swimming Hall of Fame, has been described as Scotland's greatest and Britain's finest swimmer. Fellow Olympic breaststroke gold medallist Duncan Goodhew considered him an "extraordinary talent" and "one of Britain's greatest ever athletes".
Timothy James Carrington Foster, MBE is an English rower who won a gold medal at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, Australia.
Birmingham Moseley Rugby Club is an English rugby union club, based in Birmingham, that compete in the third tier of English rugby. They were historically the premier rugby club in Birmingham, reaching the final of the John Player Cup three times in the late 1970s and early 1980s. They originally played at the Reddings, but after attempting to keep up with the transition to professional rugby, the club ran into financial difficulties and were forced to sell their 125-year home to property developers. An unsuccessful five-year spell based at the University of Birmingham followed, during which time they were relegated to National Division Two. In 2005 the club moved to its new home at Billesley Common, and were promoted to National Division One in 2006. In 2009 they won their first cup in 27 years beating Leeds 23–18 in the final of the National Trophy at Twickenham. On the weekend starting 15 April 2016; defeat to Bristol, combined with results elsewhere during the same weekend, confirmed Moseley's relegation to National League 1 for the 2016–17 season.
Wang Hao is a retired Chinese table tennis player and multiple-time Olympic medallist. He is the current head coach of the Chinese Men's Table Tennis Team.
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Zoran Primorac is a retired male table tennis player from Croatia. He is a two-time winner of the World Cup and one of only three table tennis players to have competed at seven Olympic Games. His highest ITTF world ranking was number 2, in 1998.
Duncan Fulton Thompson MBE was an Australian veteran of both WWI and WWII and a rugby league footballer, coach and administrator. He was wounded on active service in WWI and has been named amongst the nation's finest footballers of the 20th century, and is regarded as the father of modern coaching. He was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 1960 New Year Honours "for services to the community in the field of Sport."
Cardiac Risk in the Young (CRY) is a humanitarian charitable organisation helping to raise awareness of young sudden cardiac death, including sudden arrhythmic death syndrome. CRY was established in May 1995 by Alison Cox MBE and is based in the United Kingdom.
John Edward Barrett, is a former tennis player, television commentator and author. He was born in Mill Hill, North West London, the son of Alfred Edward Barrett, a leaf tobacco merchant, and Margaret Helen Barrett. He had one sister, Irene Margaret Leppington (1925–2009), a research chemist. His father had the rare distinction of having played both for Leicester Tigers RFC as a wing three-quarter and for Leicester Fosse FC as a wing half.
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Skylet Andrew, often known as Sky Andrew, is an English former Olympian who won three gold medals at the 1989 Commonwealth Table Tennis Championships and was the first Black British sports agent.
Andrew Baggaley is a professional table tennis player from Milton Keynes. He is England's leading table tennis medal winner of all time in the Commonwealth Games, winning two gold medals in Manchester, England (2002), 1 silver medal in Melbourne, Australia (2006), 1 silver and 1 bronze medal in Delhi, India (2010) and 1 silver in Glasgow, Great Britain.
John Alfred Leach MBE was a British table tennis player, coach, and author. He began competing at a relatively old age, 17, before serving in World War II. During the war, he greatly elevated his game and, in 1946, achieved a world ranking. In 1949, Leach became Great Britain's second World Champion singles player. After winning the title, he achieved widespread fame within the United Kingdom, appearing on television and writing for News of the World. Two years later, Leach added a second singles title. In 1953, he was part of the team that won Great Britain's first, and as of 2023 only, team World Championship. He also won 13 bronze and silver World championship medals between 1947 and 1955. As of 2014, Leach is just one of 11 players from any country to win two singles championships.
Joanna Drinkhall is a British table tennis player.
William John Bayley is a British professional Paralympic table tennis player, ranked world number 1. He is the 2016 Summer Paralympics Games gold medallist and the 2014 World Champion.
Gordon James Reid is a British professional wheelchair tennis player. He was ranked world No. 1 in singles and world No. 1 in doubles. He holds two Paralympic gold medals, two silver medals, and one bronze medal, and is a two-time Grand Slam singles champion, and record holding twenty-five time Grand Slam doubles champion.
Craig Andrew Crowley is the 8th President of the International Committee of Sports for the Deaf, served between 2009 and 2013.
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