Elected President of the Royal Spanish Table Tennis Federation in December 2008 at the time 38 years old and thus one of the youngest within the sporting world Miguel Angel Machado has received the Royal Order of Sports Merit Silver Medal.
The award was announced officially on Friday 2nd October by the Royal Order of Sports Merit Evaluation Commission chaired by Miguel Cardenal the Secretary of State for Sport.
Located in Madrid the presentation will be made on Wednesday 14th October at the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia the country’s national museum.
It is for the forward thinking President a further recognition of his efforts to promote the sport of table tennis in the Iberian Peninsula country. In October 2011 Miguel Angel Machado received the Royal Order of Sports Merit Silver Medal
“I am delighted to receive this award it is recognition of the tremendous efforts of our team at the Royal Spanish Table Tennis Federation” said Miguel Angel Machado. “Without the day to day hard work of those involved we could not have achieved our goals and such recognition.”
Targets and one target is to set a record in 2016; Alicante/Elche will host the World Veteran Championships the goal is to beat the record of 3 650 players who competed in Bremen in 2006; to date more than 1 200 have been received.
An impressive curriculum vitae the table tennis career of Miguel Angel Machado dates back to 1983; progressing to compete at national level in 1992 he founded the Priego Table Tennis Club before becoming the provincial delegate for the Cordoba region.
In 2005 he was responsible for the creation in Priego de Córdoba of the first dedicated table tennis centre in Spain.
Additionally Miguel Angel Machado the brother of Carlos Machado Spain’s leading player is the President of the Ibero-Americano Table Tennis Federation whilst also being a member of the Executive Committees of both the Spanish Olympic Committee and Spanish Paralympic Committee.
By Ian MARSHALL Courtesy of ITTF
