Slovenia-born Gorazd Vecko has been awarded an Honorary MBE in Britain for services to Para table tennis ©BPTT

Slovenia-born British Para Table Tennis (BPTT) performance director Gorazd Vecko has been awarded an Honorary Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE).

Vecko was among the recipients of an honorary award to foreign nationals for 2023 from King Charles III, who succeeded the late Queen Elizabeth II as Britain's monarch last year.

These awards are designed for individuals who have made an outstanding contribution to the United Kingdom and for service to the community with a significant impact.

Vecko has served as BPTT performance director since 2009, during which time British athletes have won 14 table tennis medals at the Paralympic Games.

After failing to medal at Beijing 2008, Britain won four Para table tennis medals at its home Games at London 2012, before Rob Davies and Vecko-coached Will Bayley won golds at Rio 2016.

Britain earned seven medals at the delayed 2020 Paralympics in Tokyo and 10 medals at last year's World Championships.

Bayley twice and Ross Wilson once have also been crowned world champions in their respective classes since Vecko assumed his role.

Vecko previously coached Mateja Pintar to Slovenia's first table tennis gold medal at the Paralympics at Athens 2004.

Four-time Paralympic medallist Will Bayley is among Britain's Para table tennis success stories with Gorazd Vecko as BPTT performance director ©Getty Images
Four-time Paralympic medallist Will Bayley is among Britain's Para table tennis success stories with Gorazd Vecko as BPTT performance director ©Getty Images

Vecko was an International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) tournament director for Para events from 2009 through to 2015, and tournament director at the 2018 Para World Championships and 2017 Para European Championships.

In 2021, Vecko joined the ITTF Para Committee Board, and last year became vice-president of Table Tennis England.

Vecko expressed his pride at receiving the MBE.

"This award means the world to me," he said.

"It is really nice to be recognised and as a non-British citizen I am honoured and proud to get an award like this.

"Obviously, I have done something right and that has been noticed by people, but this award is not only for me but for British Para Table Tennis because if I didn’t have the athletes and staff around me I would never have been nominated for something like this.

"I am really thankful to the people of the United Kingdom and especially BPTT that I can get recognition like this - it is not just an award for me it is an award for the whole organisation."

BPTT chair Karen Tonge praised Vecko for "changing the culture and structure of our world class performance programme".