Tiago André Barata Feio Peixoto Apolónia (born 28 July 1986) is a Portuguese

table tennis Table tennis (also known as ping-pong) is a racket sport derived from tennis but distinguished by its playing surface being atop a stationary table, rather than the Tennis court, court on which players stand. Either individually or in teams of ...

player for German club

TTF LIEBHERR Ochsenhausen Tischtennisfreunde Liebherr Ochsenhausen is a table tennis club based in Ochsenhausen, Germany. The men's team plays in the Bundesliga. The main sponsor is the company Liebherr Liebherr () is a German-Swiss multinational corporation, multinat ...

and Portugal. As of August 2016, he is ranked the number eighteenth player in the world.

Career

Born in

Lisbon Lisbon ( ; ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 567,131, as of 2023, within its administrative limits and 3,028,000 within the Lisbon Metropolitan Area, metropolis, as of 2025. Lisbon is mainlan ...

, Apolónia began playing table tennis aged six at his hometown club Estrela da Amadora. As a youth player, he was crowned European Junior Doubles champion in 2004 and won a silver medal in the Doubles competition at the Junior World Championships in 2003, both partnering

Marcos Freitas Marcos André Sousa da Silva Freitas (born 8 April 1988) is a Portuguese table tennis player who won European Championships medals in singles, doubles, and team events. He represented Portugal four times at the Summer Olympics. Career Frei ...

. After playing for German clubs TTC indeland Jülich,

1. FC Saarbrücken 1. Fußball-Club Saarbrücken () is a German Football in Germany, football club based in Saarbrücken, Saarland. The club plays in the 3. Liga, which is the third tier of football in Germany. History The club began its existence as the footbal ...

and

, he arrived at his current club TTC Neu-Ulm in 2019. In 2006, he won his first

ITTF Pro Tour The ITTF World Tour, known as the ITTF Pro Tour until 2011, was an annual series of table tennis tournaments introduced by International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) in 1996. The tour includes events in seven categories: Men's and Women's Singl ...

Doubles title in São Paulo, partnering João Monteiro. His first

Singles title followed in October 2010 with the Austrian Open in Wels, where he beat Germany's

Timo Boll Timo Boll (, ; born 8 March 1981) is a German former professional table tennis player. Boll is the most successful German table tennis player of all time, having won several medals at Olympic Games, world cups, and world championships. He was ra ...

in the final. He qualified for the

2008 Summer Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and officially branded as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes fro ...

Beijing Beijing, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's List of national capitals by population, most populous national capital city as well as ...

, where he competed in the Men's Singles. At the

2012 Summer Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012, were an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

, he was part of the Portuguese men's team. In 2015 he won first place with his national team ( João Geraldo and

) in

at the

2015 European Games The 1st European Games (), also known as the 2015 European Games or Baku 2015 (), were the inaugural edition of the European Games, an international multi-sport event for athletes representing the National Olympic Committees (NOCs) of the Europe ...

Baku Baku (, ; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Azerbaijan, largest city of Azerbaijan, as well as the largest city on the Caspian Sea and in the Caucasus region. Baku is below sea level, which makes it the List of capital ci ...

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Apolonia, Tiago 1986 births Living people Portuguese male table tennis players Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in Germany World Table Tennis Championships medalists Olympic table tennis players for Portugal Table tennis players at the 2008 Summer Olympics Table tennis players at the 2012 Summer Olympics Table tennis players at the 2016 Summer Olympics Table tennis players at the 2020 Summer Olympics European Games gold medalists for Portugal European Games medalists in table tennis European Games bronze medalists for Portugal Table tennis players at the 2015 European Games Table tennis players at the 2019 European Games S.L. Benfica sportspeople Sportspeople from Lisbon 21st-century Portuguese sportsmen Table tennis players at the 2023 European Games Table tennis players at the 2024 Summer Olympics