BERCZIK, Zoltan (HUN)
Born: 07/08/1937 in Novi Sad/Yugoslavia
Deceased: 11/01/2011 in Budapest/Hungary
1969 – 1996 he worked as trainer, also for Hungarian national team.
He was the “Table Tennis Zatopek”, named after the famous athlete Emil Zatopek; the reason was for his incredible endurance and dedication to practice; often eight hours a day, far more than any other player of his time. Using a sponge covered racket, he was primarily a defender.
Achievements:
World Chamionships:
1957 2nd place in Men’s Teams
1959 2nd place in Men’s Teams, 3rd place in Men‘s Doubles (with Laszlo Földy/HUN) and 3rd place in Mixed Doubles (with Gizella Farkas/HUN)
1961 2nd place in Men’s Doubles (with Ferenc Sido/HUN) and 3rd place in Men’s Teams.
European Championships:
1958 European Champion in Men’s Singles, Men’s Teams and Mixed Doubles (with Gizella Farkas/HUN)
1960 European Champion in Men’s Singles, Men’s Teams and Men’s Doubles (with Ferenc Sido/HUN)
1964 2nd place in Men’s Singles and 3rd place in Men’s Doubles (with Peter Rozsas/HUN)
International Championships:
1st place in Men’s Singles:
Italy: 1957 / 1961
Austria: 1956 / 1960
Czechoslovakia: 1961 / 1962
England: 1957 / 1962 / 1963
France: 1958
Hungary: 1959 / 1960 / 1962
Romania: 1957 + 1958
Sweden: 1957
Yugoslavia: 1956 / 1957 / 1959 / 1961
Hungarian National Championships:
1st place:
Singles: 1959 – 1964
Men’s Doubles: 1959 with Laszlo Földy, 1960 + 1961 with Ferenc Sido, 1962 with Miklos Peterfi, 1963 with Janos Fahazi, 1967 with Istvan Jonyer.
Mixed Doubles: 1957 with Gizella Farkas, 1960 with Eva Koczian.
Hungarian Teams Championships:
1st place with Vasútépítő Törekvés SK: 1957 / 1958 / 1959 / 1962 / 1964
1st place with Budapesti Vasutas SC: 1965 / 1966 / 1967 / 1969
Best rankings:
ITTF: 1st place 1958
ETTU: 1st place 1958 – 1961