Kristian Gunnar Karlsson (; born 6 August 1991) is a Swedish professional

table tennis Table tennis (also known as ping-pong) is a racket sport derived from tennis but distinguished by its playing surface being atop a stationary table, rather than the Tennis court, court on which players stand. Either individually or in teams of ...

player.

Career

Born in

Trollhättan Trollhättan () is the 23rd-largest city in Sweden, the seat of Trollhättan Municipality, Västra Götaland County. It is situated by Göta älv, near the lake Vänern, and has a population of approximately 50,000 in the city proper. It is loc ...

, Västra Götaland, Karlsson started to play table tennis in his hometown club at the age of 8. He remained in Trollhättan until he was 16, subsequently he moved away from home to go to high school. During his high school years, Karlsson had 10 training sessions a week. In 2011, he signed to Halmstad BTK and began to rise through the ranks quickly. Ranked outside the top 400 in October 2010, Karlsson finished 2011 in the 233rd position, and at the end of 2012 he ranked 129. The year 2012 also marked his first senior success, winning the silver medal at the 2012 Table Tennis European Championships in men's doubles. His performances also attracted French top division side AS Pontoise-Cergy TT and Karlsson eventually signed to the club in September 2013. He won the Champions League with AS Pontoise-Cergy in 2014. In 2016, Karlsson signed for the German top club

Borussia Düsseldorf Borussia Düsseldorf is a table tennis club from the North Rhine-Westphalia, North Rhine-Westphalian state capital Düsseldorf. It is Germany's most successful table tennis club and, with 78 titles, the second most successful German sports club af ...

. After coming second in the Champions League and winning the German Cup, Karlsson and Borussia Düsseldorf went on to win the triple in 2018. Paired with Mattias Karlsson, Karlsson won a bronze medal in men's doubles at the 2016 European Table Tennis Championships. And in the 2018 European Table Tennis Championships, again paired with Mattias Karlsson, Kristian won a silver medal in the men's doubles as well as a bronze medal in the men's singles. During 2018 Karlsson and the Swedish National Team won a Bronze medal (Team) in the

2018 World Team Table Tennis Championships The 2018 World Team Table Tennis Championships were held in Halmstad, Sweden from 29 April to 6 May 2018. The quarterfinal between North Korea and South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia. ...

in Halmstad, and also a gold medal in the Swedish Championship in Helsingborg.

2021

In March, Karlsson played in WTT Doha. In the first WTT Contender event, he made it to the round of 16, where he lost to

Mattias Falck Mattias Falck (; , born 7 September 1991) is a Swedish table tennis player. Career He competed at the 2016 Summer Olympics as he was part of the Swedish team in the men's team event. Mattias won two medals at the 2016 European Table Tennis Cha ...

. In the second, WTT Star Contender event, Karlsson upset Liam Pitchford in a deuce-in-the-fifth thriller in the round of 32. Karlsson &

won the world championship in men's doubles at the 2021 World Table Tennis Championships becoming the first Swedish duo to win gold since 1991.

2022

On 19 July 2022, he agreed on terms with Greek club Panathinaikos.

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Karlsson, Kristian 1991 births Living people Sportspeople from Trollhättan Swedish male table tennis players Swedish expatriate sportspeople in France Table tennis players at the 2016 Summer Olympics Table tennis players at the 2020 Summer Olympics Olympic table tennis players for Sweden Table tennis players at the 2015 European Games Table tennis players at the 2019 European Games Table tennis players at the 2023 European Games European Games silver medalists for Sweden European Games medalists in table tennis World Table Tennis Championships medalists Panathinaikos table tennis players Table tennis players at the 2024 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 2024 Summer Olympics Olympic silver medalists for Sweden Olympic medalists in table tennis 21st-century Swedish sportsmen