Ladislav Hexner
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Ladislav Hexner (also known as Vladislav Heksner; 1915–1974) was a Yugoslav international
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 best known for his achievements in the 1930s.


Career

Hexner was born in 1915 during
World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
into a Jewish family living in the city of
Sombor Sombor ( sr-Cyrl, Сомбор, ; ; ) is a List of cities in Serbia, city and the administrative center of the West Bačka District in the autonomous province of Vojvodina, Serbia. The city has a total population of 41,814 (), while its adminis ...
, at the time seat of the
Bács-Bodrog County Bács-Bodrog County (, , ) was an administrative county () of the Kingdom of Hungary from 1802 to 1920. Most of its territory is currently part of Serbia, while a smaller part belongs to Hungary. The capital of the county was Zombor (present-day ...
in
Austria-Hungary Austria-Hungary, also referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Dual Monarchy or the Habsburg Monarchy, was a multi-national constitutional monarchy in Central Europe#Before World War I, Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. A military ...
. After the war, Sombor and its surrounding region
Vojvodina Vojvodina ( ; sr-Cyrl, Војводина, ), officially the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina, is an Autonomous administrative division, autonomous province that occupies the northernmost part of Serbia, located in Central Europe. It lies withi ...
became part of the newly established
Kingdom of Yugoslavia The Kingdom of Yugoslavia was a country in Southeast Europe, Southeast and Central Europe that existed from 1918 until 1941. From 1918 to 1929, it was officially called the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes, but the term "Yugoslavia" () h ...
. By the time Hexner was in his early teens, Sombor became one of the country's first centers for the nascent sport of
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 ...
. In 1928 the local Sombor Sports Society (SSU) established a table tennis section, and that same year the Table Tennis Association of Yugoslavia was also founded in Sombor. Very early on Hexner rose to prominence as one of the best players in Yugoslavia, and was part of the SSU team which won the first national team championship in 1929–30, as well as the next three national championships, so that by the age of 18 he was already a four-time club team champion of Yugoslavia. In 1934 Hexner moved to
Zagreb Zagreb ( ) is the capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Croatia#List of cities and towns, largest city of Croatia. It is in the Northern Croatia, north of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slopes of the ...
to study medicine. Once there, Hexner continued to train at the local Jewish sports society Maccabi Zagreb, as well as the multi-sports club
HAŠK HAŠK (full name Hrvatski akademski športski klub, ) was a Croatian football club established in Zagreb in 1903. The club was one of the most successful sides in Zagreb and the Kingdom of Yugoslavia in the period between the two World Wars. The ...
affiliated with the
University of Zagreb The University of Zagreb (, ) is a public university, public research university in Zagreb, Croatia. It is the largest Croatian university and one of the oldest continuously operating universities in Europe. The University of Zagreb and the Unive ...
. Throughout the 1930s Hexner was widely considered one of Yugoslavia's best players, and as an established member of the national team he competed in nine World Table Tennis Championships between 1931 and 1939. His best result with the national team was a
silver medal A silver medal, in sports and other similar areas involving competition, is a medal made of, or plated with, silver awarded to the second-place finisher, or runner-up, of contests or competitions such as the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, ...
at the 1939 edition in the Swaythling Cup (men's team event), along with teammates
Žarko Dolinar Žarko Dolinar (3 July 1920 – 9 March 2003) was a Croatian biologist and table tennis player who won eight medals at the World Table Tennis Championships. He was born in a family of Slovene economic immigrants to Croatia. In 1939, at the ag ...
, Adolf Heršković, Tibor Harangozo and
Max Marinko Max Marinko (also known as Maks; 16 September 1916 – 20 August 1975) was a Yugoslav-Czechoslovak international table tennis player. Table tennis career Marinko won a silver medal at the 1939 World Table Tennis Championships in the men's team ...
. From 1935 to 1941 Hexner also served as a sports official at several clubs in Zagreb, as well as the national Table Tennis Association (STSJ), which had also moved to Zagreb from Sombor around 1930. He is credited with pioneering and promoting the sport in Croatia as he also penned articles for local sports journals, and is thought to be the first player who appeared in a match wearing
shorts Shorts are a garment worn over the pelvic area, circling the waist and splitting to cover the upper part of the legs, sometimes extending down to the knees but not covering the entire length of the leg. They are called "shorts" because they ar ...
, at the 1938 World Championships in Wembley. By the beginning of World War II and the
invasion of Yugoslavia The invasion of Yugoslavia, also known as the April War or Operation 25, was a Nazi Germany, German-led attack on the Kingdom of Yugoslavia by the Axis powers which began on 6 April 1941 during World War II. The order for the invasion was put fo ...
in April 1941 the then 25-year-old Hexner had risen to the post of club secretary at
HAŠK HAŠK (full name Hrvatski akademski športski klub, ) was a Croatian football club established in Zagreb in 1903. The club was one of the most successful sides in Zagreb and the Kingdom of Yugoslavia in the period between the two World Wars. The ...
. By that time, he was a 13-time national champion of Yugoslavia in various events, and is credited with beating several world champions in international tournaments in the 1930s, as well as playing with his HAŠK clubmate and later world champion Dolinar who went on to win gold at the 1954 tournament in men's doubles. Following the outbreak of the war and the installment of the Nazi-allied
NDH The Independent State of Croatia (, NDH) was a World War II–era puppet state of Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy. It was established in parts of occupied Yugoslavia on 10 April 1941, after the invasion by the Axis powers. Its territory cons ...
regime in Croatia he fled the country and first went to Bolivia, where he lived for a time before permanently settling in Peru. Ladislav Hexner died in
Lima Lima ( ; ), founded in 1535 as the Ciudad de los Reyes (, Spanish for "City of Biblical Magi, Kings"), is the capital and largest city of Peru. It is located in the valleys of the Chillón River, Chillón, Rímac River, Rímac and Lurín Rive ...
in 1974.


See also

*
List of table tennis players This list of table tennis players is alphabetically ordered by surname. The main source of the information included in this page is the official International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) database. More detailed information about their careers is ...
*
List of World Table Tennis Championships medalists A list is a set of discrete items of information collected and set forth in some format for utility, entertainment, or other purposes. A list may be memorialized in any number of ways, including existing only in the mind of the list-maker, bu ...


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hexner, Ladislav Yugoslav table tennis players World Table Tennis Championships medalists 1915 births 1974 deaths Croatian table tennis players Serbian table tennis players Sportspeople from Sombor Sportspeople from Zagreb Serbian Jews Yugoslav Jews Croatian Jews