Masako Seki

Masako Seki ( Japanese 関 正 子 , Seki Masako ; * around 1943 ), married Masako Morosawa ( 両 沢 正 子 , Morosawa Masako ), is a former Japanese table tennis player . She was four times world champion and five times Asian champion in the 1960s.

Career

Masako Seki was Japanese champion in singles in 1961 and 1963 and number one in the Japanese rankings.

She participated in the World Championships in 1961 , 1963 and 1965 and won at least two medals each time. In 1961 she won bronze in mixed with Nobuya Hoshino and gold with the Japanese women's team, in 1963 she won in doubles with Kimiyo Matsuzaki and with the team, in mixed with Keiichi Miki she reached the final. Finally she became world champion in mixed with Kōji Kimura in 1965 , there was silver in team competition and in doubles with Noriko Yamanaka .

Masako Seki took part in the Asian Championships twice. In 1963 she won doubles with Kimiyo Matsuzaki and with the team. A year later she was Asian champion in singles, doubles with Naoko Fukazu and with the team, the mixed with Kōji Kimura failed until the final.

In the ITTF world rankings , she finished third in 1964/65.

In 1991, on the initiative of some middle school teachers, a table tennis tournament was organized in Adachi for children up to 14 years of age, with Seki-Masako-hai Shōchūgakusei Takkyū Taikai ( 関 正 子 杯 小 中学生 卓 球 大会 , German "Masako-Seki-Cup, elementary and middle school students -Table tennis tournament ") got its name, and today around 100 teams from the Kantō region and surrounding prefectures take part.

Results from the ITTF database

Association	event	year	place	country	singles	Double	Mixed	team
JPN	Asian Championship TTFA	1964	Seoul	COR	gold	gold	silver	1
JPN	Asian Championship TTFA	1963	Manila	PHI		gold		1
JPN	Asian Games	1962	Jakarta	INA	3	gold	3	1
JPN	World Championship	1965	Ljubljana	YUG	Quarter finals	silver	gold	2
JPN	World Championship	1963	Prague	TCH	last 64	gold	silver	1
JPN	World Championship	1961	Beijing	CHN	last 16	last 16	Semifinals	1

Individual evidence

1. ↑ According to DTS magazine , 1962/9 page 9, Masako Seki was 19 years old in 1962
2. ↑ ^{a b} Tatsumi Andō : 第 17 回 ・ 関 正 子 杯 小 中学生 卓 球 大会 ・ 準備 （写真 を ク リ ッ ク ⇒ 拡 大） . (No longer available online.) In: 安藤 達 己 ブ ロ グ エ ッ セ イ . August 5, 2007, archived from the original on January 26, 2008 ; Retrieved August 18, 2011 (Japanese). Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
3. ↑ Japanese Table Tennis Association ( Nihon Takkyū Kyōkai ), Japanese Table Tennis Handbook ( Nihon takkyū handbook ): Japanese Masters ( Memento of the original from June 20, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
4. ↑ Tim Boggan : DTS magazine , 1962/9 p. 9 + History of US Table Tennis Vol IV (accessed November 28, 2013)
5. ↑ Historical world rankings (accessed on August 16, 2011; PDF; 148 kB)
6. ↑ Masako Seki Results from the ITTF database on ittf.com (accessed September 14, 2011)