Dian David Mickael Jacobs (21 June 1977 – 28 April 2023)^[1] was an Indonesian athlete who competed in table tennis, primarily Class 10 para table tennis. Born in Ujung Pandang, he took up table tennis at the age of ten and rose quickly through national tournaments. He was training to play internationally by 2000, and in 2001 he won his first gold medal, at the SEATTA Championships in Singapore. After 2010 he competed in para table tennis, having spent most of his career competing against athletes with full functionality. Having lost control in his right hand,^[2] he decided to compete in the 2012 Summer Paralympics in London, winning a bronze medal.

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David Jacobs
Full name	Dian David Mickael Jacobs
Residence	Jakarta, Indonesia
Born	(1977-06-21)21 June 1977 Ujung Pandang, Indonesia
Died	28 April 2023(2023-04-28) (aged 45) Jakarta, Indonesia
Medal record Men's para table tennis Representing  Indonesia Paralympic Games 2012 London Individual (class 10) 2020 Tokyo Individual (class 10) World Championships 2022 Granada Individual (class 10) 2014 Beijing Team (class 9-10) 2022 Granada Mixed doubles (class 20) Asian Para Games 2014 Incheon Individual (class 10) 2018 Jakarta Individual (class 10) 2018 Jakarta Doubles (class 10) 2014 Incheon Team (class 9-10) 2010 Guangzhou Individual (class 10) Asian Championships 2015 Amman Individual (class 10) 2019 Taichung Team (class 10) 2013 Beijing Individual (class 10) 2013 Beijing Team (class 10) 2015 Amman Team (class 10) 2019 Taichung Individual (class 10) ASEAN Para Games 2011 Surakarta Individual (class 10) 2011 Surakarta Doubles (class 10) 2015 Singapore Individual (class 10) 2017 Kuala Lumpur Individual (class 10) 2015 Singapore doubles (class 10) 2015 Singapore team (class 10) 2017 Kuala Lumpur team (class 10) 2022 Surakarta Doubles (class 10) Men's table tennis SEA Games 2005 Manila Men's doubles 2007 Nakhon Ratchasima Men's doubles 2009 Vientiane Men's team

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Jacobs was born in Ujung Pandang (now Makassar) on 21 June 1977. He was of Ambonese descent. He began playing table tennis at age ten, with the support of his parents Jan and Nell, as well as his brothers Rano, Piere, and Joe; as of 2012^[update] his three brothers also play table tennis. In 1989 his parents registered him with the PTP Club in Semarang; in his two years with the club, he became a national champion at the elementary-school level.^[3]

When Jacobs was ready to begin his junior high school, the family moved to Jakarta. Jacobs was signed with UMS 80 Club. He continued to improve and joined the provincial team. In 1997 he was sent to Beijing to train at the Shi Cha Hai Sports School.^[3] By 2000 Jacobs was already being prepared to compete at the international level by the Indonesian Table Tennis Association.^[4] As of January 2012^[update] Jacobs was married to Jeanny Palar, with whom he has one child.^[3]

While earning a degree in management from the Perbanas School of Economics, Jacobs continued training. He participated in his first Southeast Asian Games (SEA Games) in 2001.^[3] Together with Yon Mardiono, in 2001 Jacobs won Indonesia's only gold medal at the SEATTA table tennis championship in Singapore. In the men's doubles competition, they defeated the Thai duo Phucong Sanguansin and Phakphoom Sanguansin in three matches, scoring 11–4, 11–4, and 11–6. Paired with Mardiono for the first time for this tournament, Jacobs told The Jakarta Post that they "were determined not to let ourselves be dominated".^[5]

Jacobs continued to play at the SEA Games, competing in Vietnam (2003), the Philippines (2005), and Thailand (2007).^[3] He won the 2004 Pekan Olahraga Nasional competition for table tennis, which led to him receiving an honorary position at the Department of Sport; he became a full-time employee there in 2008.^[3] In 2008, Jacobs served as a coach for the Indonesian men's table tennis team,^[6] and in 2009 he competed at the SEA Games in Kuala Lumpur.^[3]

Jacobs began playing in para table tennis tournaments later that year, becoming a member of the National Paralympic Committee in 2010.^[3] He competed in Class 10, which is the highest level of functionality in the system.^[7] He usually trained with opponents who maintained full functionality.^[3] Jacobs himself had a problem with one of his hands.^[7]

At the 2010 Asian Para Games in Guangzhou, China, Jacobs won a bronze medal. Before the competition, he had only a month to train.^[8] He competed in several international tournaments, winning a gold in Thailand, silver in Beijing, bronze in the Czech Republic, silver in the United Kingdom, and gold in Taiwan.^[3] At the 2011 ASEAN Para Games in Surakarta, Jacobs won seven gold medals: men's singles (open), men's doubles (open), mixed doubles (open), men's doubles, mixed doubles, team, and single.^[7][9] In January of the following year, Jacobs took on Indonesian president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono in a three-game series. Although the president won one game with a score of 13–11, Jacobs took the series, winning two games with the scores of 11–7 and 11–9. After the competition, Yudhoyono gave a speech on the need to support Indonesia's disabled athletes.^[10]

In March 2012, Jacobs won two gold medals at the Protour Paratable Tennis Lignano Open in Italy. In the men's singles, he defeated Ivan Karabec of the Czech Republic with a score of 11–9, 11–7, and 11–8, while in the men's team play, he was paired with Komet Akbar and defeated teams from the Netherlands and Czech Republic.^[11] In June he won the Slovakian Table Tennis Tournament, ranking him among the top three in the world.^[9]

Jacobs was one of several athletes who represented Indonesia at the 2012 Summer Paralympics in London, with Ni Nengah Widiasih (powerlifting), the swimmer Agus Ngaimin, and an athletics competitor, Setyo Budi Hartanto.^[12] Jacobs won the bronze medal in the Table Tennis Men's Individual C10 classification. It was the nation's first Paralympic medal in over twenty years.^[13]

On the night of 27 April 2023, Jacobs was found unconscious near Juanda-Gambir railway in Gambir, Central Jakarta.^[1] He was rushed to Husada Hospital, and died there on 28 April 2023, at the age of 45.