Laurens Devos (born 15 August 2000) is a Belgian table tennis player who was the

Paralympic The Paralympic Games or Paralympics is a periodic series of international multisport events involving athletes with a range of disabilities. There are Winter and Summer Paralympic Games, which since the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, South Kore ...

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 Oostmalle is a village which is located in the Belgium, Belgian province of Antwerp (province), Antwerp. The village itself is part of the municipality of Malle. Oostmalle was an independent municipality until 1976. It has a surface area of 28.27& ...

. The son of Mario Devos and Christel, he has 2 brothers and a twin sister, Isabel. His 6 years older brother Robin Devos is as of 14 September 2016 the second-highest ranked able-bodied Belgian table tennis player, ranked number 119 on the World Ranking. Caused by a lack of oxygen at birth, Laurens suffers from mild

hemiplegia Hemiparesis, also called unilateral paresis, is the weakness of one entire side of the body ('' hemi-'' means "half"). Hemiplegia, in its most severe form, is the complete paralysis of one entire side of the body. Either hemiparesis or hemiplegia ...

which results in a loss of mobility on the right side of his body. He plays left-handed. He studies at the Topsportschool in

Leuven Leuven (, , ), also called Louvain (, , ), is the capital and largest City status in Belgium, city of the Provinces of Belgium, province of Flemish Brabant in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is located about east of Brussels. The municipalit ...

, where he is the only student with a disability.

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). He won the 2015 European Championships in Vejle, Denmark. He is national table tennis champion in his age category (able-bodied category). 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. At the 2016 ITTF Star Awards, Devos won Male Para Table Tennis Star, the award for Paralympic table tennis player of the year. Devos reached the first round of the 2016

World Junior Table Tennis Championships The ITTF World Youth Championships is an annual table tennis competition for juniors under 19 and under 15. From 2003 to 2019, the World Junior Table Tennis Championships was held for juniors under 18. The ITTF changed the U18 age group into U19 ...

, but then lost 4-3 from the Austrian Andreas Levenko. On 17 December 2016, Devos was named the Paralympian of the Year at the Belgian Sportsman of the year ceremony. He won his first world championship title in 2018 in Lasko,

Slovenia Slovenia, officially the Republic of Slovenia, is a country in Central Europe. It borders Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the south and southeast, and a short (46.6 km) coastline within the Adriati ...

by defeating Iurii Nozdrunov of

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

External links

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Laurens Devos - Cœur Handisport

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Devos, Laurens Living people 2000 births Paralympic table tennis players for Belgium Paralympic gold medalists for Belgium Sportspeople from Malle Paralympic medalists in table tennis Medalists at the 2016 Summer Paralympics Medalists at the 2020 Summer Paralympics Medalists at the 2024 Summer Paralympics Belgian male table tennis players Table tennis players at the 2016 Summer Paralympics Table tennis players at the 2020 Summer Paralympics Table tennis players at the 2024 Summer Paralympics 21st-century Belgian sportsmen