Zoltán Berczik (7 August 1937 – 11 January 2011) was a Hungarian

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. In the late fifties he was ranked among the best European table tennis players and won, with his athletic play, the first two titles at the

Table Tennis European Championships The European Table Tennis Championships is an international table tennis competition for the national teams of the member associations of the European Table Tennis Union (ETTU). First held in 1958, the ETTU organised the European Championships ever ...

. Berczik was born in

Novi Sad Novi Sad ( sr-Cyrl, Нови Сад, ; hu, Újvidék, ; german: Neusatz; see below for other names) is the second largest city in Serbia and the capital of the autonomous province of Vojvodina. It is located in the southern portion of the Pan ...

. He began his career as a defensive player. With the advent of topspin in the late 1950s he turned his game around to attack. He died in

Budapest Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population ...

National success

He won the Hungarian championship in single continuously from 1959 to 1964. He won the double competition in 1959 with László Földy, in 1960 and 1961 with Ferenc Sido, in 1962 Miklós Péterfy, in 1963 with János Faházi and 1967 with István Jony. In mixed doubles he won in 1960 with

Gizella Farkas Gizella 'Gizi' Farkas (18 November 1925 in Miskolc – 17 June 1996 in Vienna) was a female international table tennis player from Hungary. Table tennis career From 1947 to 1960 she won many medals in singles, doubles, and team events in the Ta ...

and

Éva Kóczián Éva Kóczián, later Kóczián-Földy (born May 25, 1936 in Budapest) is a former female international table tennis player from Hungary. Table tennis career She won twelve medals in singles, doubles, and team events in the World Table Tennis Ch ...

in 1967. He won the team championships in 1957, 1958, 1959, 1962 and 1964 with the club Vasútépítő Törekvés and in 1965, 1966, 1967 and 1969 with Bp. Vasutas SC.

World Championships

Berczik took part in World Cups five times: in 1957 he secured the silver medal with the Hungarian team. This happened again at the World Cup in 1959, where he also won the bronze medal in doubles with László Földy and mixed with Gizi Farkas. At the World Cup in 1961, he was third with the team and runner-up in doubles with Ferenc Sido. In 1963 and 1965 he won no medals.

European Championships

At the Youth European Championship in 1955 in Stuttgart, he arrived in final in doubles, where he lost. He achieved his greatest success at the European Championships in 1958 and 1960. Here he became European champion both in single and with the Hungarian team. In 1958 he won the Mixed with Gizi Farkas-Lantos, in 1960 the double competition with Ferenc Sidó. In 1964 he reached the final of the individual, which he lost to Kjell Johansson, and semi-finals in doubles.

Trainer and author

From 1969 he served as coach for the Hungarian national team. After a stay in Japan in 1985, he coached Budapest Vasutas SC. In the 1990s he wrote a series of articles for coaches on the table tennis tactics: * 1992: Tactics (2): establishment of tactics for a match * 1992: Tactics (3): The tactics of the offensive player * 1993: Tactics (5): Exercises for offensive players * 1993: Tactics (6): Exercises for offensive players * 1994: Tactics (7) * 1994: Tactics (8) Berczik ended his coaching career in 1996.Zeitschrift DTS, 1996/10, S. 28

References

External links