Hans Alsér (23 January 1942 – 15 January 1977) was a

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

international

table tennis Table tennis, also known as ping-pong and whiff-whaff, is a sport in which two or four players hit a lightweight ball, also known as the ping-pong ball, back and forth across a table using small solid rackets. It takes place on a hard table div ...

player and later the

head coach A head coach, senior coach or manager is a professional at training and developing athletes. They typically hold a more public profile and are paid more than other coaches. In some sports, the head coach is instead called the "manager", as in asso ...

of West German (1971–1974) and Swedish (1974–1977) national teams. His nickname, Hasse (Alsér or Alser), was often used in media.

Table tennis career

Hans Alsér was an international top level player. He was the European champion (singles) 1962 and 1970,

World champion A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...

(doubles) 1967 and 1969, and European champion (doubles) 1966. Hans Alsér was Swedish singles Champion six times. During the years 1960–1971 he played in the Swedish singles Championship final every year. The years when he did not become the Swedish singles Champion he was second placed. In 1967 he also became Swedish mixed double Champion with Eva Johansson. He also won an

English Open The English Open was a professional golf tournament held in England. First played in 1988, it was an annual event on the European Tour until 2002. After several aborted attempts at reviving the tournament, it returned to the tour schedule in 20 ...

title. His playing style was more all-round than most other players in the 1960s. He could attack close to the table but also defend far from the table. He mastered top-spin, chopping, looping and all other types of play. Stiga (manufacturer of table tennis tables, rackets, rubber and balls) made a very popular racket with the Alsér-grip. It became thicker towards the end of the grip, decreasing the risk of the racket slipping out of the player's grip. He died in 1977 at the age of 34 in a

plane crash An aviation accident is defined by the Convention on International Civil Aviation Annex 13 as an occurrence associated with the operation of an aircraft, which takes place from the time any person boards the aircraft with the ''intention of fl ...

at Kälvesta near

Stockholm Stockholm () is the capital and largest city of Sweden as well as the largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people live in the municipality, with 1.6 million in the urban area, and 2.4 million in the metropo ...

References

External links

Stiga Company History, Photo of Stellan Bengtsson, Kjell Johansson, Hans Alsér.

Stiga Company History, the Hans Alsér racket.
1942 births 1977 deaths People from Borås Swedish male table tennis players Swedish table tennis coaches Victims of aviation accidents or incidents in Sweden Sportspeople from Västra Götaland County {{Sweden-tabletennis-bio-stub

Table tennis career

See also

References

External links