Vallot Vainula (born 14 May 1978) is an Estonian table tennis player. [1]
He was born in Pärnu. In 2004 he graduated from Tallinn University of Technology's Faculty of Building. [1]
He began his table tennis career in 1984, coached by Enn Hallik. Later his coaches have been Antti Luigemaa, Christian Grigore Benone and others. He is played at World Table Tennis Championships. He is 7-times Baltic champion, and multiple-times Estonian champion. [1]
Since 2010 he is the head coach of Estonian national table tennis team. [1]
2002-2002, 2004–2006, 2011, 2014-2016 and 2019-2021 he is named as Best Male Table Tennis Player of Estonia. [1]
Martin Müürsepp is an Estonian professional basketball coach and former player, who is the head coach of BC Rakvere Tarvas of the Estonian-Latvian Basketball League. Widely regarded as one of Estonia's greatest basketball players of all time, he is the only Estonian to have played in the National Basketball Association (NBA).
Wayne Richard Ferreira is a South African former professional tennis player and current tennis coach.
Timo Boll is a German professional table tennis player, who currently plays for Borussia Düsseldorf. He is ranked second in the German Table Tennis National League, and seventeen in the ITTF world rankings as of April 2023. Boll ranks among the best German table tennis players of all time, having ranked world No. 1 in 2003, 2011 and in March 2018.
Wang Hao is a retired Chinese table tennis player. He became the world champion in men's singles in Yokohama, Japan, in May 2009, defeating three-time World Champion Wang Liqin 4–0. His other notable accomplishments include being a three-time World Cup Champion in 2007, 2008 and 2010, a singles silver medalist at the 2004 Summer Olympics, 2008 Summer Olympics and the 2012 Summer Olympics. In January 2010, he was replaced by Ma Long as the #1 rank on the official ITTF world rankings. He was previously ranked #1 on the official ITTF world rankings for 27 consecutive months, from October 2007 to December 2009. In April 2011, he was again the top ranked male player in the world. He is known to execute the Reverse Penhold Backhand (RPB) with exceptional skill.
Kent Mikael Appelgren is a Swedish former table tennis player.
Ma Lin is a retired Chinese table tennis player.
Tamara Boroš is a Croatian table tennis player. She is one of the relatively rare European players who competed at the highest level of the sport together with the players from the Far East.
Chen Qi is a retired Chinese table tennis player. He won the gold medal in men's doubles at the 2004 Summer Olympics with Ma Lin, and is the youngest male ever to hold this title at age 20. In December 2013, Chen Qi announced his retirement and became the head coach of the Jiangsu provincial table tennis team.
Ilija Lupulesku is a former Serbian and later American table tennis player who competed at the 1988, 1992, 1996, 2000 and 2004 Summer Olympics. He became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 2002 and competed for the United States from 2004 to 2006. Ilija Lupulesku played his first game of table tennis at age nine in his small hometown of Uzdin, Yugoslavia. After seeing other children playing at his local school, he picked up a paddle and began what would become his life's ambition. Despite his love and talent for soccer, Lupulesku, under the watchful eye of first coach Jon Bosika, committed himself to training and by age 14 was the top player on the Yugoslavian Junior National Table Tennis Team. Over the next 12 years, he would rise through the ranks of the world's best players and become one of the largest sport celebrities in his native Yugoslavia.
William Henzell is a right-handed Australian Table Tennis player generally regarded to be the greatest player Australia has produced. He was born in Adelaide and moved to Sweden at the age of 14. His highest international ranking was 90 in 2012. He has represented Australia many times, including securing Australia's first Commonwealth Games table tennis singles medal with a silver medal at the 2006 Commonwealth Games. William has represented Australia at 3 Olympic Games with a career best finish of 17th in 2012—Australia's highest singles placing ever. He was inducted into the Australia Table Tennis Hall of Fame at the age of 26, 20 years younger than any other of the inductees.
Vladimir Samsonov or Uładzimir Samsonaŭ is a Belarusian former professional table tennis player. He is known in China as the "Tai Chi Master" because of his superb all-around style, both offensive and defensive. Samsonov competed at six consecutive Olympics between 1996 and 2016, placing fourth individually in 2016, in addition to equal fifth in 1996 and 2000.
Alojzy "Alex" Ehrlich, also called "King of the Chiselers," was a Polish table tennis player, widely regarded as one of the best players in Polish history of this sport, who three times won silver in the World Championships.
Sean O'Neill is an American table tennis player and coach. He began playing table tennis in Virginia at the age of 8 with this father, Patrick, who was a nationally ranked junior player from Toledo, Ohio. O'Neill went on to win every US National Age Championship title, including the Under 11, 13, 15, 17, 21, and Over 30 events. In addition to the age events, O'Neill won the US National Men's Singles, Men's Doubles, and Mixed Doubles Championships.
John Alfred Leach MBE was a British table tennis player, coach, and author. He began competing at a relatively old age, 17, before serving in World War II. During the war, he greatly elevated his game and, in 1946, achieved a world ranking. In 1949, Leach became Great Britain's second World Champion singles player. After winning the title, he achieved widespread fame within the United Kingdom, appearing on television and writing for News of the World. Two years later, Leach added a second singles title. In 1953, he was part of the team that won Great Britain's first, and as of 2014 only, team World Championship. He also won 13 bronze and silver World championship medals between 1947 and 1955. As of 2014, Leach is just one of 11 players from any country to win two singles championships.
Ichiro Ogimura was a Japanese table tennis player, coach, president of the ITTF and former World No. 1 who won 12 World Championship titles during his career. Ogimura was also a key figure in the Ping Pong Diplomacy events of the early 1970s, as well as being instrumental in Korea playing as a unified team at the 1991 World Table Tennis Championships.
Jacques Secrétin was a French international table tennis player. He was selected for the French national team at the age of 13 and became one of the most successful table tennis players in French history. In a 26-year career Secrétin was singles champion of France 17 times and European single champion in 1976. He won the gold medal in mixed doubles at the 1977 World Table Tennis Championships in Birmingham, England. Outside of competitions he formed a show with Vincent Purkart that demonstrated table tennis tricks and exhibitions, which made more than 4,000 performances. Secrétin remained an active veterans player until his death.
Mihaela Steff is a former female table tennis player from Romania. From 1998 to 2005, she has won two medals in singles, doubles, and team events in the World Table Tennis Championships, in the Table Tennis World Cup, and in the Table Tennis European Championships.
Toomas Leius is a former tennis player from Estonia who competed for the Soviet Union.
Li Zhenshi (Chinese: 李振恃; pinyin: Lǐ Zhènshì; Wade–Giles: Li3 Chen4-shih4), is a male Chinese table tennis player and coach.
Zhou Lansun was a Chinese table tennis player and coach. He was a member of the Chinese team that won the men's team gold medal at the 1965 World Table Tennis Championships in Ljubljana. As coach he trained several world champions and won the national honorary sports medal four times.