John Hilton (table tennis)

John Hilton ( born June 25, 1947) is an English table tennis player, the 1980 European champion.

Development

At 17 years, Hilton first played table tennis. In 1971 he emigrated to Australia, where he worked first as a fitness trainer and later coached a Western Australian table tennis selection. He used the first time invented by Toni Hold Anti-Spin rubbers in high performance sport. In 1972 he returned to England.

In 1975, he first appeared in the English ranking, namely No. 19 A year later he was called to the English national team. In 1977, he arrived at the Commonwealth Championships in St. Peter Port in individual semi-finals. In the same year he played in the World Cup, but resigned as early as in the 1979 World Cup from. In 1978 he was at his first Championship with the England team in second place.

In 1979, he climbed to Rank 3 of the English rankings. With the club Sealink Milton Keynes, he won the English Championship 1979 /80.

Style

Hilton was all-round player. He played with a very catchy, slow Backside lining and a pad own design ( the porous, non-elastic sponge pad of Toni Hold Antitopspin - covering was replaced by the high-elastic sponge of a "normal " Backside - Offensive lining ). He dominated almost all offensive and defensive techniques on the front and backhand and put them partly by turning the racket tactically and unexpectedly. Due to the almost indistinguishable coverings especially its charges and counter balls were feared, and sudden tempo changes. But even in the offensive topspin he was the top European players after hardly and also characterized by an extremely good mobility.

1980 European

At the European Championship 1980 in Berne, he was the surprise winner. In the quarterfinals, he turned as unseeded European champions Gábor Gergely on a tight 3:2 from. In the semifinals, he defeated even the European champion from 1976 Jacques Secretin clearly with 3:1, and thus came to the final. Here he met the Nobody Josef Dvořáček (CSSR ), who had surprisingly defeated his compatriot Milan Orlowski. Hilton did not let the little technical savvy Dvoracek stand a chance and won with a quick 3-0.

This long been practiced by the Chinese and taken over by Hilton modern defense game called envious critics on the scene. They did not unduly from the hitherto worst final, some even spoke of " fraud on table tennis ." Despite Dvořáček technology weakness you gave John Hilton or its way of playing the blame for the lack of appeal of moves and many unexplained for the layman minor error. They coined the term " material game," which assumes that only the material and not the player's technical and tactical ability is responsible for the success. Purely objective, these are a (mostly defensive ) game type, in which the bats (combined high grip / sticky backside covering with variable grippy long pips or anti ungriffigem deposit) on pre-and backhand with different types of flooring. Due to the often practiced turning technology and the color identity of the pads, exacerbated by anti- surfaces, which differed either by sound or shine of normal cutting surfaces, even purely defensive players could be successful.

This (not only practiced by Hilton ) Material game was many an eyesore. They made primarily the material game for the lack of television and audience acceptance responsible. In order to eliminate this so-called " material game" the ITTF adopted a rule that forbade two coverings of the same color on a racket. (See lining of the table tennis racket ). This rule change did not result in Germany but, as expected, to higher audience and membership, on the contrary, they went back in subsequent years by up to 30 %.

Time after

1980 Hilton was committed by the German Bundesliga ATSV Saarbrücken, with whom he won the 1982 European Fairs Cup. Resounding international successes, however, he no longer recorded. At the World Championships 1981 he retired early from merely with the English team he reached No. 6, the same year he was at the tournament Europe Top 12 last. Also in the 1983 World Cup, he had four successful only in a team with space. From 1982/83 he played at the club Grove in the First Division, the second highest league in England. Later he joined the Dutch club TTC Valkencourt where he remained until 1985.

In 1998 he went to in the Senior World Championships and reached the semi-finals.

Private

Hilton learned carpenter, but works as a confectionary salesman in supermarkets. After his return from Australia in 1972, he sold insurance policies in the field of company Britannic. After winning the European Championship in 1980, he was a table tennis professional.

Hilton is married to wife Christine and has a son ( born 1981 ).

Results from the ITTF database

Swell

  • Erich Philippi: Hilton: "For me, even applause is enough ", journal DTS, 1980/21 p.12 -14
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