Kelly van Zon

Paralympic, world and European champion Kelly Van Zon has been in top form to hold her position at No. 1 in the world in the women’s class 7. She completed an outstanding hat-trick of World Championship titles at last October’s event in Lasko, Slovenia.

The Dutch athlete was stunned at the 2017 European Championships, when she could not defend her title. She was knocked out in the semi-final by Turkey’s Kubra Korkut and had to settle for bronze.

Prior to the Euros, she was owner of the Rio 2016 Paralympic and 2014 World Championships singles titles.

She started playing table tennis aged nine and made her international debut in 2003.

By 2005, Van Zon was medalling in major international tournaments and has reached the podium in every major international tournament since.

It started with a singles silver at the 2005 European Championships, followed by another silver at the Worlds the following year.

She won bronze at both the 2007 European Championships and Beijing 2008 Paralympic Games.

In 2009, she won gold for the first time, a European title. Since then, she has won singles gold at every single major international tournament, with the exception of the 2013 and 2017 European Championships.