Manfred Emmel
Manfred Emmel was a German para table tennis player who competed in international table tennis competitions. He was an eight-time Paralympic champion in swimming and table tennis. He was notably one of the most successful German para table tennis player in the 1970s and 1980s.
In 1967, Emmel founded the Wheelchair Sports Club in Frankfurt with Kurt Nicklas who was a physiotherapist for a trauma clinic in Berlin and Alfred Daßbach. Emmel was the chairman for the RSC from 1994 to 2015. The RSC is a sports club for wheelchair users who compete in wheelchair basketball, archery, wheelchair curling, handcycling, wheelchair rugby, wheelchair dancing and table tennis.
Personal life
In 1963, Emmel was paralysed from a swimming accident in Schultheis pond in Offenbach District when he dived into the pond head first into gravel.Emmel passed away days before his 80th birthday in 2025.