Dian David Mickael Jacobs (21 June 1977 – 28 April 2023) was an Indonesian athlete who competed in

table tennis Table tennis, also known as ping-pong and whiff-whaff, is a sport in which two or four players hit a lightweight ball, also known as the ping-pong ball, back and forth across a table using small solid rackets. It takes place on a hard table div ...

, primarily Class 10

para table tennis Para table tennis is a parasports which follows the rules set by the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF). The usual table tennis rules are in effect with slight modifications for wheelchair athletes. Athletes from disability groups can ...

. Born in Ujung Pandang, he took up table tennis at the age of ten and rose quickly through national tournaments. He was training to play internationally by 2000, and in 2001 he won his first gold medal, at the SEATTA Games in Singapore. After 2010 he competed in para table tennis, having spent most of his career competing against athletes with full functionality. Having lost control in his right hand,https://voi.id/en/sports/276004/prestasi-david-jacobs-di-tingkat-nasional-hingga-internasional he decided to compete in the

2012 Summer Paralympics The 2012 Summer Paralympics, branded as the London 2012 Paralympic Games, were an international multi-sport parasports event held from 29 August to 9 September 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. They were the 14th Summer Paralympic Gam ...

in London, winning a bronze medal.

Early life

Jacobs was born in Ujung Pandang (now

Makassar Makassar (, mak, ᨆᨀᨔᨑ, Mangkasara’, ) is the capital of the Indonesian province of South Sulawesi. It is the largest city in the region of Eastern Indonesia and the country's fifth-largest urban center after Jakarta, Surabaya, ...

) on 21 June 1977. He was of

Ambonese The Ambonese, also known as South Moluccans, are an Indonesian ethnic group of mixed Austronesian and Melanesian origin. They are majority Christians followed by Muslims. The Ambonese are from Ambon Island in Maluku, an island group east of Sul ...

descent. He began playing table tennis at age ten, with the support of his parents Jan and Nell, as well as his brothers Rano, Piere, and Joe; his three brothers also play table tennis. In 1989 his parents registered him with the PTP Club in Semarang; in his two years with the club, he became a national champion at the elementary-school level. When Jacobs was ready to begin his junior high school, the family moved to Jakarta. Jacobs was signed with UMS 80 Club. He continued to improve and joined the provincial team. In 1997 he was sent to

Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...

to train at the Shi Cha Hai Sports School. By 2000 Jacobs was already being prepared to compete at the international level by the Indonesian Table Tennis Association. Jacobs was married to Jeanny Palar, with whom he has one child.

Table tennis career

While earning a degree in management from the Perbanas School of Economics, Jacobs continued training. He participated in his first

Southeast Asian Games The Southeast Asian Games, also known as the SEA Games, is a biennial multi-sport event involving participants from the current 11 countries of Southeast Asia. The games are under the regulation of the Southeast Asian Games Federation with supe ...

(SEA Games) in 2001. Together with

Yon Mardiono Yon may refer to: * Yon (name), including a list of people with the name * Yon (river), France * Yon Mound and Village Site, a prehistoric archaeological site in Florida * '' Yön'' ("Direction" in English), a Turkish weekly leftist political m ...

, in 2001 Jacobs won Indonesia's only gold medal at the SEATTA table tennis championship in Singapore. In the men's doubles competition, they defeated the Thai duo Phucong Sanguansin and Phakphoom Sanguansin in three matches, scoring 11–4, 11–4, and 11–6. Paired with Mardiono for the first time for this tournament, Jacobs told ''

The Jakarta Post ''The Jakarta Post'' is a daily English-language newspaper in Indonesia. The paper is owned by PT Niskala Media Tenggara and based in the nation's capital, Jakarta. ''The Jakarta Post'' started as a collaboration between four Indonesian med ...

'' that they "were determined not to let ourselves be dominated". Jacobs continued to play at the SEA Games, competing in Vietnam (2003), the Philippines (2005), and Thailand (2007). He won the 2004

Pekan Olahraga Nasional The National Sports Week ( id, Pekan Olahraga Nasional, abbreviated as PON) is a multi-sport event held every four years in Indonesia. The participants of this event are the athletes from all provinces of Indonesia. It is organized by the National ...

competition for table tennis, which led to him receiving an honorary position at the Department of Sport; he became a full-time employee there in 2008. In 2008, Jacobs served as a coach for the Indonesian men's table tennis team, and in 2009 he competed at the SEA Games in Kuala Lumpur.

Para table tennis career

Jacobs began playing in

tournaments later that year, becoming a member of the National Paralympic Committee in 2010. He competed in Class 10, which is the highest level of functionality in the system. He usually trained with opponents who maintained full functionality. Jacobs himself had a problem with one of his hands. At the 2010

Asian Para Games The Asian Para Games also known as Para Asiad is a multi-sport event regulated by the Asian Paralympic Committee that's held every four years after every Asian Games for athletes with physical disabilities. Both events had adopted the strateg ...

Guangzhou Guangzhou (, ; ; or ; ), also known as Canton () and alternatively romanized as Kwongchow or Kwangchow, is the capital and largest city of Guangdong province in southern China. Located on the Pearl River about north-northwest of Hong ...

, China, Jacobs won a bronze medal. Before the competition, he had only a month to train. He competed in several international tournaments, winning a gold in Thailand, silver in Beijing, bronze in the Czech Republic, silver in the United Kingdom, and gold in Taiwan. At the 2011

ASEAN Para Games The ASEAN Para Games is a biennial multi-sport event held after every Southeast Asian Games involving disabled athletes from the current 11 Southeast Asia countries. Participating athletes have a variety of disabilities ranging from spastic, ...

Surakarta Surakarta ( jv, ꦯꦸꦫꦏꦂꦠ), known colloquially as Solo ( jv, ꦱꦭ; ), is a city in Central Java, Indonesia. The 44 km2 (16.2 sq mi) city adjoins Karanganyar Regency and Boyolali Regency to the north, Karanganyar Regency and ...

, Jacobs won seven gold medals: men's singles (open), men's doubles (open), mixed doubles (open), men's doubles, mixed doubles, team, and single. In January of the following year, Jacobs took on Indonesian president

Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (born 9 September 1949), commonly referred to by his initials SBY, is an Indonesian politician and retired army general who served as the sixth president of Indonesia from 2004 to 2014. A member of the Democratic Party ...

in a three-game series. Although the president won one game with a score of 13–11, Jacobs took the series, winning two games with the scores of 11–7 and 11–9. After the competition, Yudhoyono gave a speech on the need to support Indonesia's disabled athletes. In March 2012, Jacobs won two gold medals at the Protour Paratable Tennis Liknano Open in Italy. In the men's singles, he defeated Ivan Karavec of the Czech Republic with a score of 11–9, 11–7, and 11–8, while in the men's team play, he was paired with Komet Akbar and defeated teams from the Netherlands and Czech Republic. In June he won the Slovakian Table Tennis Tournament, ranking him among the top three in the world. Jacobs was one of several athletes who represented Indonesia at the

in London, with Ni Nengah Widiasih (

powerlifting Powerlifting is a strength sport that consists of three attempts at maximal weight on three lifts: squat, bench press, and deadlift. As in the sport of Olympic weightlifting, it involves the athlete attempting a maximal weight single-lift eff ...

), the swimmer Agus Ngaimin, and an athletics competitor,

Setyo Budi Hartanto Setyo Budi Hartanto (also Setio Budi Hartanto; born 6 May 1986) is an Indonesian athlete who competes in long jump and high jump. He competed at the 2012 Summer Paralympic Games. Biography Hartanto comes from Temanggung, Central Java, and was ...

. Jacobs won the bronze medal in the Table Tennis Men's Individual C10 classification. It was the nation's first Paralympic medal in over twenty years.

Death

On the night of 27 April 2023, Jacobs was found unconscious near Juanda-Gambir railway in Gambir,

Central Jakarta Central Jakarta ( id, Jakarta Pusat) is one of the five administrative cities () which form the Special Capital Region of Jakarta. It had 902,973 inhabitants according to the 2010 censusBiro Pusat Statistik, Jakarta, 2011. and 1,056,896 at the ...

. He was rushed to Husada Hospital, and died there on 28 April 2023, at the age of 45.

Awards and nominations

Achievements

Paralympic Games

''Men's singles''

World Championships

Asian Para Games

''Men's singles'' ''Men's doubles'' ''Men's team''

Asian Championships

''Men's singles''

Southeast Asian Games

''Men's doubles'' ''Men's team''

ASEAN Para Games

''Men's singles'' ''Men's doubles'' ''Men's team''

SEATTA Games

''Men's doubles''

ITTF Para Table Tennis Tour

''Men's singles'' ''Men's team''

References

;Footnotes ;Bibliography * * * * * * * * * * *

External links

David Jacobs
at International Para Table Tennis Federation {{DEFAULTSORT:Jacobs, David 1977 births 2023 deaths Indonesian male table tennis players Table tennis players at the 2012 Summer Paralympics Paralympic table tennis players for Indonesia Medalists at the 2012 Summer Paralympics Paralympic medalists in table tennis Paralympic bronze medalists for Indonesia Sportspeople from Makassar Table tennis players at the 2016 Summer Paralympics SEA Games medalists in table tennis SEA Games bronze medalists for Indonesia Competitors at the 2001 SEA Games Indonesian table tennis coaches Table tennis players at the 2020 Summer Paralympics Medalists at the 2010 Asian Para Games Medalists at the 2014 Asian Para Games Medalists at the 2018 Asian Para Games