Zoltán Berczik

Zoltán Berczik [ Zolta ː n bɛrtsik ] ( born August 7, 1937 in Novi Sad, † January 11, 2011 in Budapest) was a Hungarian table tennis player.

He belonged to the late fifties to the best European table tennis players and won with his athletic game emphasizes the first two titles in the Table Tennis European Championships.

Berczik began his career as a defender. With advent of topspin in the late 1950s he turned his game around to attack.

National success

In the Hungarian Championships he won from 1959 to 1964 continuously the singles title. The doubles competition he won in 1959 with László Földy, 1960 and 1961 with Ferenc Sido, 1962 Miklós Péterfy, 1963 János Faházi and 1967 István Jonyer. In mixed he won in 1957 with Gizella Farkas and 1960 with Éva Kóczián.

The team championships he won in 1957, 1958, 1959, 1962 and 1964 with the club Vasútépítő Törekvés SK as well as 1965, 1966, 1967, and 1969 bps Vasutas SC.

World Championships

Five times Berczik participated in world championships: 1957, he won a silver medal with the Hungarian team. This was again at the World Cup in 1959, when he scored an additional bronze in doubles (with László Földy ) and Mixed ( with Gizella Lantos - Gervais - Farkas ). In the 1961 World Cup, he finished third with the team and runner-up in doubles with Ferenc Sido. 1963 and 1965 he was unable to win more medals.

European Championships

In the European Youth Championship 1955 in Stuttgart, he came in a double with Sandor Ujvaari to the final, where he but the German Franz -Joseph Wedig / Roland Süßmann subject.

His greatest successes he scored at the European Championships in 1958 and 1960., Where he was European champion in each individual and with the Hungarian team. Thus he was the first European Champion since the beginning of the EM host. In 1958 he gained even in mixed with Gizella Lantos, 1960 the doubles competition with Ferenc Sido. At Euro 1964 he reached the final of the individual, which he lost to Kjell Johansson, and doubles the semifinals.

Trainer and author

From 1969 he served as coach for the Hungarian national team. During his tenure were Tibor Klampar / István Jonyer 1971 world champion in doubles. After a stay in Japan in 1985 he was coach of the club Vasutas SC Budapest. In the 1990s he wrote a series of articles for coaches to Table Tennis Tactics:

1996 ended Berczik his coaching career.

Results from the ITTF database