Waldner Sweeden
Firstly, please do not get confused with “Times” in the heading above with the newspaper “Times of India”. Just wanted to make the headline a bit impressive!!
The world is a witness to the sheer dominance of Chinese in Table Tennis. The recently concluded World Table Tennis championships, held in Japan, saw an all Chinese event. Similarly, the 2007 championships also saw an all Chinese event. All the events – Men’s singles, Women’s singles, Men’s doubles, Women’s doubles & Mixed doubles – saw only Chinese as winners and most of these events witnessed Chinese player(s) playing against Chinese player(s) in the Finals. This pervasive Chinese impression in world of TT seems to me like a tradition. Chinese soil has produced great players like Wang Liqin, Wang Hao, Ma Lin & Guo Que. They are unambiguously the best in the world. And no doubt, Chinese players would remain the best in the world. However, TT is a game which dates back to as early as 1884 with origins in England. When the ITTF (International Table Tennis Federation) was found, it had its 1st members in Austria, Czecho-slovakia, England, Germany, Hungary, India, Sweden and Wales. Ironically, Chinese were seen no where then!! So I thought it is imperative to remember some TT legends who have contributed a lot to TT but do not have any attributes to China, I.e some players who deserve to be called TT greats and they are not from China. Unfortunately, India hasn’t witnessed players adept enough to be called legends!
Trending
Starting with Jan-Ove Waldner, those who have some interest in TT must have atleast heard of this name. One of the greatest, rather the greatest player of all times in TT, he is from Sweden. Truly a living legend, Waldner started his career at an early age of 16 by reaching the finals of the European Championship in 1982, which he eventually lost. 27 years later, he is now also known as “the evergreen tree” and “Michael Jordan” of Table Tennis. He is the 1st player in the history of TT to win a Grand Slam( two World Championships, one Olympic Gold and one World Cup) and till date there are only 2 more players to have won a Grand Slam. Amusingly, some young Chinese players that he played recently were trained by those he played in the 1990s, who were in turn trained by others he played in the 1980s. Isnt it really funny and isnt it truly an attribute of a legend? In all the World Championships from 1983 till 2000, Waldner never returned empty handed from the tournament – a medal used to accompany him. He has a myriad of medals, be it Gold, Silver or Bronze, flamboyantly displayed in his wardrobe(do not take that literally,after all how come could I get a chance to sneak in there!). However, contrary to my earlier statement, he has of late built some connection in China. He is the best known Swede and a renowned sports personality in China and also owns a restaurant in China, “W Bar”.
Another obliviously conspicuous name in world of TT is Angelica Rozeanu. She played for Romania and started her career much earlier at the age of 8. At 15, she won her 1st major title, Romanian National Women’s Championship in 1936. 2 years later, she won the Hungarian Open, her 1st international major title. Due to World War II, she was forced to leave playing TT for 5 years from 1940 to 1944. Notwithstanding, she won her 1t World Championship in 1950 and this run continued for 6 years in succession, a record yet to be broken. She was the 1st Romanian woman to win a world title in any sport and she was the last non-Asian to win a World title!! She was presented the highest sports distinction in Romania in 1954. She also received four Order of Work honors from her government. In 1957, she and other Jewish players found themselves forced out of the Romanian Federation when an anti-Semite rose to the chairman position of the Bucharest Municipality (please do not go in details of this history, its rather confusing). But as it is said that Cricket is in blood of Sachin Tendulkar, I say that TT was in blood of Rozeanu. She moved to Israel after expulsion from Romanian Federation and guess what, she was the Israel’s champion 3 times from 1960 – 1962. In Israel too, her glory did not debilitate and she received medals and awards of highest Israeli honour. In 2006, she died at the age of 84.
Guys, I am in real dilemma now. Not often would you find such a great and legendary and revered and competent and adept player like Angelica Rozeanu in any sport.
