Leszek Kucharski
Leszek Kucharski (born July 8, 1959 in Danzig ) is a Polish table tennis player and trainer. He is European youth champion as well as vice world champion in doubles and vice European champion in men’s singles.
youth
Leszek Kucharski is the son of Magdalena Skuratowicz-Kucharski, who won the Polish table tennis championship six times and was Senior World Champion 50+ in 1984 . She led him to table tennis and to the AZS-AWF Gdańsk association, of which she was one of the founders. Andrzej Grubba also played in the same club . Leszek made rapid progress. In 1969 he was the Polish student champion, in 1971, 1974 and 1977 he won the Polish youth championships in singles. At the European Youth Championships in 1974 he reached the quarter-finals in singles, in 1976 3rd place in mixed (with Jolanta Szatko). In 1977 he won the European Youth Championship in Vichy.
Adult career
He often had to interrupt his career because of back problems. So he could not play tournaments in the 1978/79 season.
Polish championships
At the national Polish championships in 1980 and 1987 he won singles, 1978 doubles with Stefan Dryszel , 1979, 1980, 1981, 1984 and 1988 Andrzej Grubba , 1978 and 1979 mixed with Jolanta Szatko and 1989 with D. Bilska. A total of 11 times he was team champion with the teams from AZS-AWF Gdańsk (7 times), Euromirex (3 times) and Baildon Katowice (once).
European championships
From 1982 to 1992 Kucharski was represented at all six European championships . He achieved his best placings in 1984 when he won silver with the Polish team, and in 1986 when he was defeated in the individual final against Jörgen Persson and thus became vice European champion.
World championships
Between 1977 and 1993, Kucharski was nominated eight times for world championships . Only in 1979 he was absent for health reasons. In doubles he won the vice world championship with Zoran Kalinić in Dortmund in 1989 - they lost the final against the German Jörg Roßkopf / Steffen Fetzner . Kucharski achieved further good placements in doubles with Andrzej Grubba in 1987 with third place and in 1981 and 1991 (semi-finals). In 1985 he was third with the team.
Further international appearances
Kucharski qualified eight times between 1982 and 1992 for the European ranking tournament Europe TOP-12 , best of all in 1988 with 4th place. In 1988 and 1992 he took part in the Olympic Games . He won several international championships.
Trainer
From 1991 Kucharski worked in Poland as a trainer. At times he also worked for the Indian Table Tennis Association (until 2013).
societies
Mostly Kucharski played in Polish clubs, only from 1987 to 1990 he stayed in Sweden (Halmstad and Helsinborg) and in 1991 at TSV Heilbronn-Sontheim ( 1st Bundesliga ).
Private
Kucharski has a sister Gosia and an older brother Zbyszek (Polish youth champion). His first marriage was to his wife Izabell, with whom he has a daughter, Aleksandra (* 1981). In 1989 he married the Polish national volleyball player Dorota Rucka.
Results from the ITTF database
Association | event | year | place | country | singles | Double | Mixed | team |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
POLE | European Championship | 1992 | Stuttgart | GER | Quarter finals | |||
POLE | European Championship | 1990 | Gothenburg | SWE | Quarter finals | |||
POLE | European Championship | 1988 | Paris | FRA | Semifinals | |||
POLE | European Championship | 1986 | Prague | TCH | silver | Quarter finals | ||
POLE | European Championship | 1984 | Moscow | URS | Quarter finals | 2 | ||
POLE | European Championship | 1982 | Budapest | HUN | last 16 | Quarter finals | ||
POLE | European Youth Championship (Juniors) | 1977 | Vichy | FRA | gold | |||
POLE | EURO TOP12 | 1991 | Hertogenbosch | NED | 11 | |||
POLE | EURO TOP12 | 1990 | Hanover | FRG | 7th | |||
POLE | EURO TOP12 | 1989 | Charleroi | BEL | 6th | |||
POLE | EURO TOP12 | 1988 | Ljubljana | YUG | 4th | |||
POLE | EURO TOP12 | 1987 | Basel | SUI | 5 | |||
POLE | EURO TOP12 | 1986 | Sodertalje | SWE | 5 | |||
POLE | EURO TOP12 | 1985 | Barcelona | ESP | 11 | |||
POLE | EURO TOP12 | 1982 | Nantes | FRA | 10 | |||
POLE | Olympic games | 1992 | Barcelona | ESP | no participants | immediately excluded | ||
POLE | Olympic games | 1988 | Seoul | COR | last 16 | 6th | ||
POLE | Pro tour | 1997 | Gdańsk | POLE | last 16 | |||
POLE | World Championship | 1993 | Gothenburg | SWE | last 64 | last 64 | last 128 | 11 |
POLE | World Championship | 1991 | Chiba City | JPN | last 64 | Quarter finals | no participants | 16 |
POLE | World Championship | 1989 | Dortmund | FRG | last 64 | silver | no participants | 8th |
POLE | World Championship | 1987 | New Delhi | IND | last 16 | Semifinals | no participants | 5 |
POLE | World Championship | 1985 | Gothenburg | SWE | last 64 | last 64 | Agony | 3 |
POLE | World Championship | 1983 | Tokyo | JPN | last 32 | last 16 | no participants | 12 |
POLE | World Championship | 1981 | Novi Sad | YUG | last 32 | Quarter finals | last 64 | 8th |
POLE | World Championship | 1977 | Birmingham | CLOSELY | last 128 | last 32 | last 32 | 12 |
POLE | World cup | 1989 | Nairobi | KEN | 7th | |||
POLE | World cup | 1988 | Canton & Wuhan | United States | 9 | |||
POLE | World cup | 1987 | Macau | CHN | 4th | |||
POLE | World cup | 1985 | Foshan | CHN | 14th | |||
POLE | World Doubles Cup | 1992 | Las Vegas | United States | Quarter finals | |||
POLE | World Doubles Cup | 1990 | Seoul | COR | Semifinals |
swell
- Kucharski's website (Polish) (accessed September 22, 2012)
- Marek Formela / Manfred Schäfer: Foreign countries beckon him: Leszek Kucharski , DTS magazine , 1986/9 pp. 45–47
- Sylwester Sikora: Seven Years of Hope , DTS magazine , 1984/6 pp. 14-15
Individual evidence
- ↑ tischtennis magazine , 2013/12 page 6
- ↑ DTS magazine , 1989/10 p. 19
- ↑ Leszek Kucharski results from the ITTF database on ittf.com (accessed on September 11, 2011)
Web links
- Leszek Kucharski in the Sports-Reference database (English; archived from the original ) (accessed December 6, 2013)
personal data | |
---|---|
SURNAME | Kucharski, Leszek |
BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Polish table tennis player and trainer |
DATE OF BIRTH | July 8, 1959 |
PLACE OF BIRTH | Gdańsk |