István Kelen

István " Stephen " Kelen (full name Stephen Estaban Kelen; born March 21, 1912 in Budapest, † 1 May 2003 in Sydney ) was a Hungarian table tennis player and writer. He was twice world champion in mixed doubles.

Training

Kelen grew up in Budapest and went to school there. During this time he wrote his first poems. After finishing school, he studied philosophy at the Charles University in Prague. At that time he was already a good table tennis player. Therefore, he coached the University of Prague team.

Table tennis career

From 1929 to 1937 he took eight for Hungary participated in the World Championships. He twice won the title in mixed doubles, 1929 in Budapest with Anna Sipos and 1933 in Baden near Vienna with Mária Mednyánszky. Silver he won twice in a double (1931 and 1933 respectively with Lajos Leopold David) and two in mixed doubles (1930 and 1936 with Anna Sipos with Mária Mednyánszky ). With the Hungarian team, he won five gold medals.

In 1930 he went to at the International German Championships in Hanover. Here he won the double with Lajos Leopold David, in mixed he was with Anna Sipos second.

In 1936 he published the book Success at Table Tennis. He was inducted into the ITTF Hall of Fame in 1993.

Tour of Australia

In August 1937 he undertook several months tour of Australia, which was still under development in the area of ​​table tennis. Together with his teammates Hungarian Miklós Szabados he led exhibition matches and friendly matches against by locals. On this tour, the Australians were aware of the shakehand grip. Previously, they had largely preferred the penholder style.

The Australia trip was followed by tours throughout the world. Later, both Hungary relocated permanently to Australia.

Writer

Shortly before the outbreak of World War II in 1939, he moved to Australia. Here he joined the army as a volunteer, 1949, he was dismissed. Kelen anglicised to ' Stephen ' his Christian name from the Hungarian ' Istvan ', which was common at that time.

Since that time, he wrote articles in newspapers such as in the BCON (British Commonwealth Occupation News). He also wrote reviews for broadcasts and book reviews. Many of his works were sent in English-speaking countries around the world, some were transferred translated into other languages ​​countries. After the Hungarian People's Revolution of 1956, he wrote some novels that these themed.

From 1960 to 1977 he worked as editorial director of Goodyear Australia Publications.

Seven books he published in Australia, including:

• Heed McGlarity - Mingay, Sydney 1945.
• Goshu - Horowitz, Sydney 1965.
• Uphill All the Way - Goodyear, Sydney 1974.
• I Remember Hiroshima - Hale and Iremonger, Sydney 1983.
• Freedom is a Rainbow - Sydney.

After 1983 he began to write his autobiography. In 1986 he was awarded the Literature Prize Medal of the Order of Australia.

Memberships

Kelen was a member of

• Australian Journalists' Association ( beginning before the Second World War)
• Australian Society of Authors
• Sydney Centre of International PEN - here he was president from 1975 to 1985

Private

1951 married Kelen the Australian teacher Sylvia Steuart. With her he had two sons, both of which are active as a writer.

Results from the ITTF database