- Kalinikos Kreanga
Kalinikos Kreanga (b.
March 8 ,1972 ,Bistriţa ,Romania ) is a Greek table tennis player.Born as Călin Creangă, he chose to defect from Communist-ruled Romania at the age of 17 (with his father) while he was participating in the European Table Tennis Youth Championship in
Luxembourg in1989 . [Article in Cotidianul.ro of July 8, 2005 http://www.cotidianul.ro/creanga_a_ajuns_celebru_si_bogat_din_ping_pong-630.html]He started to play table tennis at the age of 7, his first coach being Gheorghe Bogza, the same coach who would later discover
Mihaela Steff .While in Luxembourg, he received an offer to play in Greece, so he decided to move there. Being a minor, he quickly acquired Greek citizenship, and changed his name to Kalinikos Kreanga. [Article in Cotidianul.ro of July 8, 2005 http://www.cotidianul.ro/creanga_a_ajuns_celebru_si_bogat_din_ping_pong-630.html]
He has been one of the dominant European table tennis players since the beginning of the 1990s, and uses the
shakehand style to hold the racket. His favorite attack weapons seem to be thetopspin forehand loop and a strong backhand shot.Teams he has so far played for:
* A.C. Zografou (Greece) (until
1995 )
* Finower TTC (1995/96; 2. Bundesliga,Germany )
* Royal Villette Charleroi, (Belgium ), since1996 )
* TTC Weinheim (2.BL, Germany)
* TTF Ochsenhausen (Germany)
* Montpellier TT (France )
* Hennebont (France)ome results:
Men singles winner, Iran Open, 1989 [http://www.ittf.com/World_Events/Biography1.asp?Player_ID=173]
Men singles winner, Iceland Open, 1992 [http://www.ittf.com/World_Events/Biography1.asp?Player_ID=173]
Bronze medal in the singles competition at the World Championship, Paris, 2003 [http://www.tabletennismaster.com/kalinikos-kreanga.html]
Runner-up (singles men) at the World Cup in 2004 [http://www.tabletennismaster.com/kalinikos-kreanga.html]
Winner of the Santiago Open Championship, 2004 [http://www.tabletennismaster.com/kalinikos-kreanga.html]
Singles and doubles winner of the
St. Petersburg Open, 2004 [http://www.tabletennismaster.com/kalinikos-kreanga.html]Notes
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