The 35-year-old Hobart chef emerged from a top-quality crop of Olympians and world champions in the wake of his performance at the Paralympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.

Bugg, who was left a paraplegic after a snowboarding accident at the age of 23, claimed a silver medal in the 2.4mR class in Brazil after winning four of the 11 races.

A member of the Royal Yacht Club of Tasmania, Bugg finished seventh at 2012 Paralympic Games in London and has since finished fourth, fifth and third twice at successive world championships.

Bugg edged out fellow Paralympian Deon Kenzie, 20, of Forth, who also won a silver medal in the T38 1500m for athletes with cerebral palsy, Wynyard motocross enduro world champion Matthew Phillips, 23, Launceston’s Tour de France fifth-placegetter Richie Porte, 31, and West Pine’s Olympic track cyclist Amy Cure, 23.

Porte and Cure are among the previous winners of the award, in 2013 and 2015 respectively, along with fellow cyclist Matthew Goss (2011), boxing world champion Daniel Geale (2012) and hockey World Cup winner Eddie Ockenden (2014).

On a busy day for the state’s sport, seven retired champions were inducted into the Tasmanian Hall of Fame at a ceremony in Hobart.

Hobart rowers Scott Brennan, Dana Faletic and Kate Hornsey, who all retired after the London Olympic Games, joined the elite group along with Launceston archery world champion Clint Freeman, national cycling champion Belinda Goss, of Acacia Hills, Evandale basketball world champion Hollie Grima Florance and Hobart’s AFL footballer Paul Sproule.