Shimcha Finkelstein (; 1917–1987), was a male

Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Polish people, people from Poland or of Polish descent * Polish chicken * Polish brothers (Mark Polish and Michael Polish, born 1970), American twin ...

and Israeli 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.

Table tennis career

He won a

bronze medal A bronze medal in sports and other similar areas involving competition is a medal made of bronze awarded to the third-place finisher of contests or competitions such as the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, etc. The outright winner receives ...

at the

1936 World Table Tennis Championships The 1936 World Table Tennis Championships were held in Prague from March 12 to March 18, 1936. The championships were criticised for the bad management and poor tables. The Lucerna Palace arena (a 4,000-seat, underground concert hall) conditions ...

in the Swaythling Cup (men's team event) with

Alojzy Ehrlich Alojzy "Alex" Ehrlich (1 January 1914 – 7 December 1992), also called "King of the Chiselers," was a Polish table tennis player, widely regarded as one of the best players in Polish history of this sport, who three times won silver in the ...

and Samuel Schieff for Poland. He was Polish team champion for Hasmonea Warsaw and singles champion in 1937. He was of Jewish origin and before the

war War is an armed conflict between the armed forces of states, or between governmental forces and armed groups that are organized under a certain command structure and have the capacity to sustain military operations, or between such organi ...

switched allegiance to Israel and won the first ever Israeli championship beating Mordecai Finberg in the final.

Personal life

He left Poland in May 1937 via

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 ...

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

. He retired in 1967, had three children and died in 1987.

References

Polish male table tennis players Israeli male table tennis players 1917 births 1987 deaths World Table Tennis Championships medalists Sportspeople from Warsaw Polish emigrants to Mandatory Palestine Israeli people of Polish-Jewish descent 20th-century Polish sportsmen {{Poland-tabletennis-bio-stub

Table tennis career

Personal life

See also

References