He was given the royal honour on behalf of King Willem-Alexander by Aart-Jan Moerkerke, the Mayor of Coppenrath's home town Papendrecht.

Coppenrath was handed the honour after years of work in wheelchair basketball, both nationally and internationally.

The Dutchman has been active in his role at IWBF Europe, where he was part of the organisation for a number of European Championship and European Cup tournaments.

He has also served as a member of the IWBF Executive Committee.

Coppenrath was chairman of the IWBF Competitions Committee for 12 years between 2002 and 2014, which included work on the Athens 2004, Beijing 2008 and London 2012 Paralympic Games.

At national level he was a representative for wheelchair basketball at the Nederlandse Basketball Bond (NBB) General Assembly.

Coppenrath received the union pin of the Dutch Basketball League by NBB chairperson Francisca Ravestein, as well as being recognised with the IWBF Gold Medal Triad for his work in the sport.

The IWBF were represented at the reception by Norbert Kucera, the assistant to IWBF President Ulf Mehrens.

"Ron did a great job as the secretary general for IWBF Europe," said Kucera.

"One of his greatest assets was the fantastic ability to administer a large amount of competitions and the demands of Europe's member nations, the clubs and the international technical officials.

"He always did this in a very quiet and effective way with clear direction, all for the benefit of wheelchair basketball.

"His impact in the improvement and development of wheelchair basketball across Europe and the world is immeasurable."