Derbyshire’s Liam Pitchford named BOA Olympic Athlete of the Year for table tennis for second year

21 December 2011

Derbyshire’s Liam Pitchford has been named the British Olympic Association (BOA) Olympic Athlete of the Year for table tennis for a second year running.

The award was introduced in 2005 to mark the BOA’s Centenary Year and the success of London being awarded the 2012 Olympic Games.

The BOA presented a trophy to each of the 33 summer and winter Olympic sports for them to award on an annual basis to their top performing athlete of the year, and table tennis have chosen to present the award to 18-year-old Liam from Chesterfield.

Liam (pictured) won a silver medal in the doubles at the English National Championships and a bronze medal in the team event at the European Youth Championships in July.

He then made headlines when he competed at the European Championships in Poland, where he beat five players ranked in the top 100 in the world, including the Belarusian Vladmir Samsonov ranked world No.9.

He reached the quarter-finals of the boys’ singles and mixed doubles at the World Junior Championships in Bahrain, and was part of the three-man Great Britain team which competed against a World All Stars team at the ITTF Pro Tour Grand Finals in London.

His achievements have led to him being named England’s new senior number 1, taking over from Paul Drinkhall who had been England’s top senior player since 2006.

Liam is included in a long list of 16 players which has been put together by the British Table Tennis Federation ahead of selection for Team Great Britain for the 2012 Olympics.

The list includes eight men and eight women. The first round of cuts will be made in February, when the shortlist is made, and the final Olympic squad of three men and three women will be announced in May.

Liam was named the University of Derby Sportsperson of the Year at the Derbyshire Sports Awards earlier this year.

To see the full list of recipients of the 2011 Olympic Athlete of the Year trophy go to http://www.olympics.org.uk/News/24572a-boa-reveal-2011-olympic-athlete-of-the-year-winners/ (opens in a new window)

Photo by Chris Webb.

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