At the Table Tennis Victoria AGM held on Saturday 9 April the TTV Annual Award winners for 2021 were announced.

If individuals were present at the AGM they had their awards presented in person otherwise the TTV office are making arrangements to present these awards at a later date to coincide with other competitions.

In 2021 we also added two new awards: the Singer Official of the Year and the St Kilda Cricket Table Tennis Club Affiliate of the Year. 

The winners of the 2021 Annual Awards are:

FRENCH AWARD (Senior Players of the Year- named in memory of Table Tennis Victoria former President, Vic French.)

Female:     Jian Fang Lay
•    6th Olympic Games

Male:        Sanish Ambekar
•    Victorian Open Men’s Singles Champion, plus Croydon and Dandenong Open events with strong fields.

COBURG AWARD - (Junior Players of the Year - Donated by Coburg TTC)

Female:        Parleen Kaur
•    U/19 Vic Open Semi Final
•    U/19 Croydon Champion
•    U/19 Dandenong Finalist
•    Croydon Senior Finalist

Male:        Nicholas Lum
•    U/17 & U/19 Vic Open Champion
•    U/17 & U/19 Croydon Champion
•    Vic Open Senior Finalist
•    2021 World Table Tennis Youth Contender Italy: Gold in Under 17 Boys Singles.
•    2021 World Table Tennis Youth Contender Hungary: Silver in Under 17 Boys Singles.
•    2021 World Table Tennis Youth Contender Slovak Republic: Gold in Under 17 Boys Singles, bronze in Under 19 Boys Singles.
•    2021 World Youth Championships: Last 16 in Under 19 Boys Singles.
•    Career high World Ranking of no.10 in Under 17 and no.18 in Under 19.

•    This combination (Parleen & Nic) has won for the 5th year in a row, breaking the previous record held by Trevor Brown and Yvonne Li.

ROSARIO AWARD (Para Male & Female athlete of the Year - named after the Rosario family, an award which recognises the contributions made by Prisca, Eric and Alois Rosario to the sport of table tennis in Victoria.)

Female:     Lina Lei & Qian Yang
•    Paralympic
•    Lina = Class 9 Singles Gold Medal
•    Qian = Class 10 Singles Gold Medal
•    Class 9/10 Teams = Silver Medal (together with Melissa Tapper)

Male:    Ma Lin
•    Silver in Singles and Silver in Teams
•    Ma = Class 9

SOKOLOWSKI AWARD (Veteran Player of the Year – In memory of Ted Sokolowski. Perpetual trophies donated by Mr. Vic Matison and Mr. Roy Cintolo)

Female:     Cheryl Huang
•    O/30’s in Vic Open Vets Champion
•    Dandenong, Geelong and Ballarat O/30’s Champion

Male:    Reddy Rohit Tatikonda
•    O/30’s in Vic Open Senior & Vic Open Vets Champion
•    O/30’s in Croydon Senior & Croydon Vets Champion
•    Finalist at Dandenong, Ballarat and Geelong O/30’s

PRESIDENTS AWARD (Distinguished Service Award)

Not Awarded for 2021 – no nominations were received this year, which was perhaps expected given the disruption we all experienced.

GUGGENHEIM AWARD - Volunteer of the Year (named after Joan Guggenheim)

Les Dawson
•    Centre Manager for 15 years and treasurer for 11 years
•    Has grown pennant numbers from 54 to over 220 and looks after Juniors training each Friday 
•    The club’s Covid officer so coordinated extra cleaning and did all booking sheets for restructured play sessions
•    Manages all abilities groups - mental and physical disabilities & ran activities for International Day for People with Disability activities 

JAVOR AWARD (Coach of the Year) - named after the late Karol Javor, an award which recognises the contribution made by him to coaching in Victoria.

Frank Pearce
•    Has coached Croydon’s Junior squad for the past few years
•    Helped grow junior numbers with outstanding results
•    Helps with Open Nights, school visits and weekend coaching

SINGER AWARD (Official of the Year) - Official of the Year - named after Ruth Singer, an award which recognises the contributions made by Ruth Singer to the sport of table tennis as an Official in Victoria.

Arnold Puts
•    Arnold umpired at every event in 2021 despite some with short notice.
•    Arnold has been umpiring for 30 years and is considered as one of the most reliable, consistent well performed umpires.
•    Arnold has a near perfect attendance at the Umpires’ League meetings and is always prepared to help when there is a need. 

ST KILDA CRICKET TABLE TENNIS CLUB AWARD (Affiliate of the Year) - named after the oldest Club in Victoria, St Kilda Cricket Table Tennis Club, an award which recognises the longstanding contributions made by St Kilda Cricket to the sport of table tennis in Victoria.

Mornington Peninsula and Frankston City Table Tennis Association
•    Successful Spinneroos junior programs (Mixed & Girls)
•    Diverse All Abilities Programs
•    Club Development with Committee
•    Club Connect with local Primary Schools

Congratulations to all 2021 Award recipients!

Selection Process

The Presidents’, Javor Guggenheim, Singer and St Kilda Cricket Table Tennis Club awards are selected by the TTV Office from nominations received by the community and sent to the Board for approval.

The remaining four Awards – the French, Coburg, Sokolowski and Rosario awards are selected by the State Selection Panel and sent to the Board for approval.