Mihaela Steff is a former female

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 from

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

. From 1998 to 2005, she has won two medals in singles, doubles, and team events in the

World Table Tennis Championships The World Table Tennis Championships are table tennis competitions sanctioned by the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF). The World Championships have been held since 1926, biennially since 1957. Five individual events, which include men ...

, in the

Table Tennis World Cup The Table Tennis World Cup has been held annually since 1980. There had only been men's singles until the start of women's singles in 1996 and team competitions in 1990. The competitions are sanctioned by the International Table Tennis Federation. ...

, and in 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 ev ...

Career

Șteff is left-handed. She started playing table tennis at the age of nine. She was promoted by the coach Gheorghe Bogza, who also looked after well-known players such as Călin Creangă and Adrian Crişan. She won the national Romanian championships six times, in 1994 in doubles with Antonela Manac, in 1996 in singles, doubles (with Antonela Manac) and mixed (with Andrei Filimon), in 1997 in singles and in 2002 in mixed with Adrian Crișan. In 1997 she joined Team Galaxy Lübeck in the German Bundesliga. In 1998 she won the European Cup with Lübeck. In 1999, she joined TuS Bad Driburg and in 2002 she moved to Müllermilch Langweid. In 2004 she left Germany for Italy to the Sterilgarda TT Castelgoffredo. She was successful at the European Youth Championships, where she won gold once in singles, five times in doubles and once in mixed gold. At the European Championships for adults, she reached the final in the individual in 2000 and 2005. Together with

Tamara Boroš Tamara Boroš (born 19 December 1977) is a Croatian table tennis player. She is one of the relatively rare European players in modern times who successfully competed at the highest level against Asian players. Boroš was born in a Hungarian fam ...

, she became European champions in doubles in 2002, 2003 and 2005. From 1995 to 2006 she took part in nine world championships for Romania. In 2000 and 2004 she qualified for the Olympic Games, where she reached the quarter-finals in both singles and doubles. In autumn 2005 the Romanian national players Mihaela Șteff,

Otilia Bădescu Otilia Bădescu, born 31 October 1970 in Bucharest, Romania, is a former Romanian table tennis player. Table tennis career From 1986 to 2005 she won several medals in singles, doubles, and team events in the Table Tennis European Championships ...

and

Adriana Năstase-Simion-Zamfir Adriana Năstase-Simion-Zamfir (born 6 July 1972) is a Romanian table tennis player. She competed at the 1992 Summer Olympics, the 1996 Summer Olympics, and the 2004 Summer Olympics The 2004 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the X ...

refused to sign the contracts submitted by the Romanian table tennis association, according to which they forego 10% of the income from the ITTF Pro Tour in favor of the association. They were then expelled from the national team and for the European Table Tennis Championships in 2007 no longer considered.

References

Romanian female table tennis players Living people Table tennis players at the 2000 Summer Olympics Table tennis players at the 2004 Summer Olympics Olympic table tennis players for Romania 1978 births Sportspeople from Bistrița Expatriate sportspeople in Germany Expatriate sportspeople in Italy {{Romania-tabletennis-bio-stub

Career

See also

References