István Kelen

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István "Stephen" Kelen (full name Stephen Estaban Kelen ; born March 21, 1912 in Budapest , † May 1, 2003 in Sydney ) was a Hungarian table tennis player and writer. He was twice world champion in mixed.

education

Kelen grew up in Budapest and attended school there. During this time he wrote his first poems. After graduating from school, he studied philosophy at the Charles University in Prague. He was already a good table tennis player then. Therefore, he coached the Prague university team.

Table tennis career

From 1929 to 1937 he took part in eight world championships for Hungary . He won the mixed title twice, in 1929 in Budapest with Anna Sipos and in 1933 in Baden near Vienna with Mária Mednyánszky . He won silver twice in doubles ( 1931 and 1933 each with Lajos Dávid ) and twice in mixed ( 1930 with Anna Sipos and 1936 with Mária Mednyánszky). With the Hungarian team he won five gold medals.

In 1930 he entered the International German Championships in Hanover. Here he won in doubles with Lajos Dávid , in mixed he was second with Anna Sipos .

In 1936 he published the book Success at Table Tennis . In 1993 he was inducted into the ITTF Hall of Fame .

Tour of Australia

In August 1937 he undertook a tour of several months through Australia, which was still in the development stage in the field of table tennis. Together with his Hungarian teammate Miklós Szabados , he carried out exhibition matches and friendly matches against locals. During this tour, the Australians became aware of the shakehand grip. Previously, they had largely preferred the penholder style.

The trip to Australia was followed by tours all over the world. Later both Hungarians finally moved to Australia.

writer

He moved to Australia just before the outbreak of World War II in 1939. Here he joined the army as a volunteer and was released in 1949. Kelen anglicized his Christian name from the Hungarian 'Istvan' to 'Stephen', which was common at the time.

Since that time he has written articles in newspapers, among others. a. in BCON (British Commonwealth Occupation News). He has also contributed to radio broadcasts and book reviews. Much of his work has been broadcast to English-speaking countries around the world, and some have been translated into foreign-speaking countries. After the Hungarian uprising in 1956 , he wrote several novels that dealt with it.

From 1960 to 1977 he was the editor-in-chief of Goodyear Australia Publications .

He published seven books in Australia, including:

  • Heed McGlarity - Mingay, Sydney 1945.
  • Goshu - Horowitz, Sydney 1965.
  • Uphill All the Way - Goodyear, Sydney 1974.
  • I Remember Hiroshima - Hale and Iremonger, Sydney 1983.
  • Freedom is a Rainbow - Sydney.

After 1983 he began to write his autobiography. In 1986 he was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia literary prize.

Memberships

Kelen was a member of

  • Australian Journalists' Association (started before World War II)
  • Australian Society of Authors
  • Sydney Center of International PEN - where he was President from 1975 to 1985

Private

In 1951 Kelen married the Australian teacher Sylvia Steuart. He has two sons with her, both of whom are active as authors.

Results from the ITTF database

Association event year place country singles Double Mixed team
HUN  World Championship  1937  to bathe  AUT   last 64  last 32  last 16   
HUN  World Championship  1936  Prague  TCH   last 32  Quarter finals  silver  3
HUN  World Championship  1935  Wembley  CLOSELY   last 16  Semifinals  last 32  1
HUN  World Championship  1933  to bathe  AUT   last 16  silver  gold  1
HUN  World Championship  1932  Prague  TCH   last 128  Quarter finals  last 32  2
HUN  World Championship  1931  Budapest  HUN   last 32  silver  last 16  1
HUN  World Championship  1930  Berlin  FRG   Semifinals  Quarter finals  silver  1
HUN  World Championship  1929  Budapest  HUN   Quarter finals  Quarter finals  gold  1

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Manfred Schäfer: A game for life. 75 years of DTTB. (1925-2000) . Published by the German Table Tennis Association DTTB , Frankfurt am Main 2000, ISBN 3-00-005890-7 , pages 135 + 137
  2. ↑ István Kelen results from the ITTF database on ittf.com (accessed September 9, 2011)
personal data
SURNAME Kelen, István
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Kelen, Stephen; Kelen, Stephen Estaban
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Hungarian table tennis player and writer
DATE OF BIRTH March 21, 1912
PLACE OF BIRTH Budapest
DATE OF DEATH May 1, 2003
Place of death Sydney