Tennis Official Magazine of the English Table Tennis Association Edited by W. HARRISON EDWARDS Published tby Wa'lthamstow Press, Ltd., Guardian HOl.;lse, 644 Forest Road, London, E.17 Vol. 24 ~BRmL, ]966 No. 7 A CHAMPIONSHIP OF CHANGES TIDE st'age is selt and months of hard work and They 'wiH be defending the worn'en's tealm and the organisation will have the:ir rewa,rd when the women's doUbles, and at itihe n10st iwe can hope they will ke'ep these clrowns. Fifth European Championship,s get unde'rway at the Empire Pool, Wembley, on Apri:1 13. All 30 na,tions llhe rest of Europe are Iw'eU aware of th'eir strength and i'bh1is should 'be a psyciholog:ical advantage to the affiUated to the Europ,ean Union have entered ·uwo gir[s 'Who ha,ve blazed a trial of doulb1es successes for the biggest table tennis e~vent in this country since throughout the world. the World Cham:pionships of 1954. lit is fi1bding that Wen1lbl rey, the sc,ene of the World meeting, Islhould aga!in be c'hos'en 'for this showpiece, SWAN-SONG als the sitars of EUf10pe come tog,ether for their biennial contests. ~his will be theiir 'swan-song, for Diane is ret1ilfing Thi1s is the fifltlh meet,ing 'in the series and the first to settle down in Germany ,with Bberhardt Sdh'Oler, tin1e it has (been held in tlhis country. Tlhe financial who wi'll be 'one of the favourites for the men's burden ~s 'tremendous and unlike many European singles. nations there is no gove1rnm,ent 'backling. Howe¥er, llhis cOUJld 'wen be a chalmpionsihJip of changes and there 'is a guarantee f:J:om the Daily Mail arga1ins!t one event expecJted to produc,e a new champion is a lim!ited iloss and this in its'elf makes such a meeting the rwon1'en's singles, dlom1inated for so long by Eva posslilble. Koczian. Malry Wright could be her successor, providing she overcomes Marta Luzova, orf ICzecho­ slovakia, and Svetlana Grinberg, of RU's.sia, on her LOSS CERTAIN way to the final. Maria Alexanrdru, tihe dour Rumanian, is another To \plary host Ito pla'yers fI10m so many countries, strong crlarilman t. makes ilt alim10st i:mipossibll,e to make a profit. It is a question of how low can the Iloss be kept. KjeU JohanSison, the tall Srw:ede, is favouI1irte to keep the men's singles, but Isltvan Konpa (Yugoslavia), \Vlhy then len:f,e1r into such a ,tiiisky undertaking? Jaros'lav Stanek (Cz'eclh), and SchOller 'must not be It is in the cause of table tennis; aneffiort to put unde'r-r:ated. England'is pnoslpects in the men's events the gamle before the public in a brig way, and reorui1t are not bri,ght. 1!Ollowers for the future. Sweden, who came so near to beating Japan last llhe b1igtgest boost to the ga1me in thJis country mon1th, are expected to ,keep the m'en's team while wou1d be for our players to tak'e a n1ajor share of England can only hope to ct:imb up the Jadder. the ti,tles, but this ,in unHtkefy. Our hopes rest on tJwo playevs, Diane, Rowe Scholer and Mary Shannon llhe championships are being c1ralmlm,ed linto a week, WrI1ight, who have kept our flag fly1ing for so long in startling with the tearm events 'and foHow'ed by th'e the intierna~ional fie'ld. individuals. Page Three lABLE TENNIS APRIL.1966 BRIAN WRIGHT introduces . .. SPEARHEADING the overseas challenge for the singles titles in the European ·Championships are the redoubtable team from CZECHOSLOVAK.IA led by their most experienced player Jaroslav Stanek. A semi-finalist at the 4th European Championships in Sweden 1964 Stanek has Ibeen 5n IspaI1.k1lling form. He was vunner-rup ito KjeH Johansson luhe EUI10pean Icha1mlpion in the Dutch ·Open and has recently won the West German 'Open, after gaining revenge over Johansson in a brilliant final. He also won "the Welsh Open. An alIt round ,player Iwlitih Ian emphasis on alttack Stanek I1anlks No.5 in Europe. ,His rteam (1I1Jate and douibrles par'tner Vladanl!ir Mlko U.s w·ei}ll known BRIAN WRIGHT in this iCloun1t'fy las a bounding, exuberanlt playe:r wiiltlh seem1ingly un­ Picture D. Offer ending supplies of energy. He has a controlled forehand attack with many unusual shots reminiscent of the great Czechoslovakian player Edith Buchholz is a defensive· expert in the typical German style. One of Stipek. the fe1w international players who Few of those who sa'w the finals still favours the rubber bat, Mis's of the 1965 EngLish Open, w,ill forget Buchholz has particularly good foot­ the magnificent Wlom.en's singles fin~l work. he~'ween Marta Luzova and Mana From YUG'OSLAVIA we have Al,el~andru. Mlaritla had luhe .crowd on three fiit, fast and active participants. edge ,through lalill ,fiNe ig1ames 'and de­ Istvan Korpa who has a delightfuUy served the great ovation she Teceived s.mooth forehand hit, heads the;ir team. when winning the finall point. A very He played some brilliant table tennis fi t p[ayer with her game based on at the last world championships and counter attack Marta is the holder seem·ed inspired lin front of his home of the Cze'choslovakian Open and supporters. He was runner-up to with M iko the holder of ll1any 'miixed Johansson in the East German Open doubles titles. Ranked No. 6 in this season. Europe M:arltla is sure of beooming Backing up Korpa is Edvard Vecko a favourite with the orowd at We1m­ who ·conlibines extremely well in bley. doubles play and who on his day can be'a;t the beslt lin Europe. 'The I~hh~d From RUSSIA we have Anatol member and ,most ·expe:fiienced player Amelin, ranked No.8 in Europe. He in Itthe tea'ffi is Vojislav Markovic who is the leading Russian player in the needs little introduction in this coun­ current mould of all out attack. A try. Markovic is a cagey player 'with point Ito IWla!1Jch is his unusuall and quick re!flexes and 'was one of the first powel1ful IbaJck'hiand !hi't. Sve~lana players to introduce the loop into Grinber'g was in this country last Europe. De:ce'miber when the R,ussiian women's SWED'E.N, the men's team cham­ team had two matches against Eng­ pions, IWlho oOJCe laJgain len.te1r w,irth a land. She has every stroke in the formidable array of sitars. Apart from book including very good servjces and Kjen Johansson they have Hans Alser, was a convinoing 'winner of the Hun­ Karl Bernhardt and KjeU's elder garian Open this season. Ranked SVETLANA GRINBERG brother C'hrister. equal 3 in Europe, Grinberg must be Picture D. Offer Europe's fittest player, Alser en­ a strong ,challenger to Eva Koczian's thralls the crowds with his high loh­ singles tlitle. Agnes Simon won the 1962 Euro­ bing defenc·e and his quick 'oounter WESW GERMANY is led hy Eber­ pean tit'le in BeJ.1lin. She has had a attacks used alway from the table. The hard Scholer the highest ranked Euro­ varied Caree!f representing firsit Hun­ firslt Swede eveT to win the European pean in the world's ranking lis~t. Semi­ gary then the N·etheTllands and now singles titJle in 1962 he must be a finalist in the 1964 European cham­ West Ger·many. Winner of the leading contender this year. Karl pionships and also the 1965 world women's doubles at the world cham­ Johan Bern1ha;vdt :is Ithe ;t1hi~d m'ember championships Scholer gives the pionships in 1957 Mrs. Simon has a of this tealffi. Tall and long l[mbed appearance of being slow but is very unorthodox half volley style of he impressed everyone on his first de!ceptilvely fast and has ~Iithout play with a fine unexpe,cted forehand visit to this coun/try in 1962. Bern.. doubt the fineslt defence' in Europe. hit. hardt's game is based on difficult Page Four APRIL - 1966 TABLE TENNIS servj,ces and fla,st oonsistent top spins. top spin. Has created a great deal this season to give even greater ,Lena Rundsltrom, Mariltta Nlilsson of pub1li,city for the game in this strength to her game'. and Eva Johansson are three young country since his breakthrough in The Polish Open has already fallen players whom Sweden are Ihoping will 1963. to her skill while w!i th Diane Ro'we­ make a big impact on the 'women's Ian Harrison was England's leading Scholer she has won mos1t of the con­ even/ts. player for a numiber of years and has tinental worn'err's doubles tidies, as From RUMANIA we have Dorin had many wins over 'most of Europe's weN as the European doubles of 1962 G,iurgiuca l~he ,Crown 'P,liince of Euro­ top players at one 'ti'me or another. and 1964. pean table tenn;is. Giurgiuca has the Denis Neale the current English So much has been written about greatest loop on this continent and champion is a startlingly fast pl/ayer Diane Rowe-Scholer that there is even after playing in eveTy major with a particularly deadly baokhand. little mOTe I can add. A wonde,rful tourna.ment for three years many of He broke through to top class table fighter who has graced the game for the leading players stiU cannot take tennis last season 'w~th wins over many years, she will be sorely miss,ed his 'loop Icons~sltently.