Heinz Schneider

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(from left to right) Helmut Hanschmann , Heinz Schneider and Heinz Reimann in the international match between the GDR and Romania (5: 4) in Bucharest in 1953

Heinz Schneider (born October 12, 1932 in Mühlhausen , Province of Saxony ; † August 20, 2007 there ) was one of the most successful German table tennis players .

Between 1950 and 1961 Schneider won the GDR championship six times in singles and six times in doubles. He was also active internationally and took part in eight world championships. His greatest success in 1957 was 3rd place in the individual. He was the first German to win a table tennis medal after World War II. The 4th place with the GDR team in 1961 - before the Federal Republic - also meant a triumph. He played a total of 26 internationals for Germany as a whole and more than 100 internationals for the GDR.

Life

Schneider's career began in early 1948 at the German Youth Championships in Lauterbach (Hesse) , where he was eliminated early. In November 1950, Schneider took part in the first competition between the Federal Republic and the GDR in Leipzig. He lost to Jupp Schlaf , but won against Heinz Raack and Rudi Piffl . The Federal Republic won 6-3. In 1954, a competition between Bavaria and Thuringia for the German Cup took place in Bayreuth . Schneider won against Conny Freundorfer .

This was followed by participation in the national championships and the world championships and in 1957 the bronze medal at the table tennis world championship in Stockholm. Here he defeated Robert Saul (France), Waldemar Roslan (Poland), Josef Sedelmeier (Austria), Toma Reiter (Romania) and Toshihiko Miyata (Japan) one after the other. Then he was defeated by the eventual world champion Toshiaki Tanaka (Japan). In 1961 Schneider said goodbye to international sport. At the World Championships in Beijing he won against Conny Freundorfer , Wolfgang Prandke and Martin Ness .

Schneider played for Blau Weiß Mühlhausen from 1946 to 1955, the club was later renamed Post SV Mühlhausen in 1951 . After that he involuntarily switched to SC Motor Berlin for two years , after which he returned to Post Mühlhausen in 1957. Here he played in the team until the 1970s and took second place in the table in 1970 in the second division.

In 1989, Schneider came into the spotlight again. The German table tennis federation DTTB had invited him together with Gaby Orgis-Geißler to the world championships in Dortmund. The DTSB of the GDR initially refused to leave the country. Schneider then complained by letter to the SED Politburo member Egon Krenz, who is responsible for sport . On the western side, the leader of the FDP parliamentary group, Wolfgang Mischnick , successfully campaigned for Schneider and Orgis-Geissler to leave. From 1991 to 1993 Schneider worked on the board of directors of the DTTB as a representative of the new federal states.

Schneider was a postal worker and married. His wife Brigitte also plays table tennis and is quite successful in the region. In July 2004 she took part in the European Senior Championships in Courmayeur (Italy). In doubles, she took first place with Margarete Köngeter (TV Reichenbach).

Schneider died in Mühlhausen in 2007 after a long and serious illness.

Awards

In 1953, Heinz Schneider was awarded the honorary title of Master of Sports . In 1955 Jupp Schlaf unofficially awarded him (and Astrid Horn ) the golden badge of honor of the German Table Tennis Association . On October 12, 2002 Schneider was given honorary citizenship of the city of Mühlhausen. He also received the Georg von Opel Prize in 1998 .

successes

  • World championships
    • 1951 in Vienna: quarter finals in mixed, member of the German team (10th place)
    • 1952 in Bombay: quarter-finals in doubles (with Rudi Piffl ), member of the German team (9th place)
    • 1953 in Bucharest: Member of the German team (7th place)
    • 1954 in Wimbley: Member of the German team (10th place)
    • 1955 in Utrecht: Member of the German team (9th place)
    • 1957 in Stockholm: 3rd place individual, member of the German team (9th place)
    • 1959 in Dortmund: Member of the GDR team (17th place)
    • 1961 in Beijing: Member of the GDR team (4th place)
  • European championships
    • 1958 in Budapest: Member of the GDR team (11th place)
    • 1960 in Zagreb: quarter-finals in doubles, member of the GDR team (7th place)
  • International championships
    • 1956 Switzerland: 2nd place doubles
    • 1958 France: 2nd place doubles
    • 1960 Austria: semi-finals singles
    • 1961 Poland: 2nd place mixed
  • GDR team championship
  • National German senior championships
    • 1982 in Schwalmstadt age group - 2nd place doubles with E. von Löwenstein
    • 1984 in Bad Schwartau over 50 - 1st place doubles with J. Mülleneisen
  • Different ranking lists

Results from the ITTF database

Association event year place country singles Double Mixed team
GDR  European Championship  1960  Zagreb  YUG     Quarter finals     
GDR  World Championship  1961  Beijing  CHN   last 128  last 32  last 32  4th 
GDR  World Championship  1959  Dortmund  FRG   last 32  last 128  last 64  17th 
GER  World Championship  1957  Stockholm  SWE   Semifinals  last 32  last 32  5 
GER  World Championship  1955  Utrecht  NED   last 32  last 64  last 32  9 
GER  World Championship  1954  Wembley  CLOSELY   last 32  last 64  no participants  11 
GER  World Championship  1953  Bucharest  ROU   last 32  last 64  no participants  7th 
GER  World Championship  1952  Bombay  IND   last 64  Quarter finals  last 32  9 
GER  World Championship  1951  Vienna  AUT   last 128  Agony  Quarter finals  10 

literature

  • Jens Büchner: Twice as thick - twice as good , DTS magazine , 1997/5 p. 12

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ tischtennis magazine , 2007/9 regional section Southwest p. 9
  2. ↑ a b (unknown) GDR newspaper from March 1959 (published before March 27) Ticket: 2011040510006001
  3. ^ Heinz Schneider Results from the ITTF database on ittf.com (accessed on September 14, 2011)
personal data
SURNAME Schneider, Heinz
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German table tennis player
DATE OF BIRTH October 12, 1932
PLACE OF BIRTH Muhlhausen , Germany
DATE OF DEATH August 20, 2007
Place of death Muhlhausen , Germany