Table tennis world championship 1973

Table tennis world championship
1971 ← World Cup 1973 → 1975
date	5.4. - April 15, 1973
venue	Sarajevo
winner
Single (♂)	Hsi En-Ting
Single (♀)	Hu Yulan
Double (♂)	Stellan Bengtsson 2 Kjell Johansson
Double (♀)	Maria Alexandru Miho Hamada
Doubles (mixed)	Liang Geliang Li Li
Team (♂)	Sweden
Team (♀)	South Korea

The 32nd table tennis world championship took place from April 5th to 15th, 1973 in Sarajevo in what was then Yugoslavia . The venue was the Skenderija sports center .

Summary

This world championship could have gone down in history as that of the Swedish men. After the surprising victory in the team competition - China and Japan were beaten - and the victory of Stellan Bengtsson / Kjell Johansson in the men's doubles, Kjell Johansson was also close to the world title in the men's singles. Ultimately, however, Hsi En-Ting prevailed with his safer game against the impetuous attacking Sweden.

Conducting team competitions

The teams were divided into categories according to their placement at the last World Cup in 1971 : places 1 to 14 were placed in category 1, places 15 to 28 in category 2, places 29 to 40 in category 3, etc. If a team at the last World Cup was not represented, then it was classified in the lowest category by default, unless the national association applied for a higher classification, which was the case for the men's team of the USSR.

In each category, two groups of seven were formed, where the teams fought in the mode of everyone against everyone. The resulting first and second played for places 1 to 4 in the respective category, the third and fourth for places 5 to 8, etc.

Cutting off the Germans

Team competition men

The sixth place of the German men at the previous World Cup in 1971 allowed them to start in Category 1. Here they defeated France and England in Group B, but lost to Japan, Yugoslavia, CSSR and USSR. That was enough for fifth place in this group. In the games for places 9 to 14, the team won against Indonesia, Austria, India, England and France and came in ninth overall.

Team competition women

The seventh place of the German women at the previous World Cup in 1971 entitled them to start in Category 1. Here they defeated Sweden and Yugoslavia in Group B and were defeated by the teams from China, South Korea, Romania and France. That was enough for fourth place in this group. In the games for places 5 to 8, the team won against the CSSR and lost to the USSR and CSSR. This was enough for seventh place in the overall ranking.

useful information

• England had refused to host the World Cup in advance because no suitable hall was available.
• The Swede Stellan Bengtsson receives the Richard Bergmann Fair Play Prize from the SCI .
• The Swede Kjell Johansson receives the Victor Barna Prize from the SCI .

Postage stamps

Yugoslavia issued a special stamp worth 2 dinars on April 5, 1973 ( Michel catalog no. 1 505). 450,000 blocks with 9 stamps each were issued. There was also a first day cover with special postmarks from Belgrade, Zagreb and Sarajevo.

South Korea celebrated its women's team's gold medal with a special stamp with an imprinted value of 10 won ( Michel catalog no. 872). It was issued on May 23, 1973. Already during the World Cup there was a special postmark with a table tennis motif in South Korea.

Results

competition	rank	winner
Team men	1.	Sweden ( Bo Persson , Stellan Bengtsson 2 , Anders Johansson, Kjell Johansson , Ingemar Wikström)
	2.	China ( Hsi En-Ting , Hsu Chao-Fa, Li Ching-Kuang, Liang Geliang , Tiao Wen-Yuanli)
	3.	Japan ( Nobuhiko Hasegawa , Mitsuru Kohno , Norio Takashima, Yujiro Imano, Tokyo Tasaka )
	9.	Germany ( Manfred Baum , Jochen Leiß , Wilfried Lieck , Klaus Schmittinger , Eberhard Schöler )
	13.	Austria ( Josef Bauregger , Heinz Schlüter , Franz Thallinger , Rudolf Weinmann )
	33.	Switzerland ( Laszlo Földy , Marikus Frutschi, Marcel Grimm , Erwin Heri , Knut Schonenberg)
Team women	1.	South Korea ( Lee Ailesa , Hyun Sook Chung, Soon Ok Kim, Mi Ra Park)
	2.	China (Cheng Huai-Ying, Hu Yulan , Cheng min-chih , Zhang Li )
	3.	Japan ( Miho Hamada , Tomie Edano, Yukie Ōzeki , Sachiko Yokota)
	7th	Germany ( Wiebke Hendriksen , Monika Kneip , Kirsten Krüger , Diane Schöler )
	14th	Austria ( Eva Bogner , Margret Wagner )
	27.	Switzerland ( Catherine Boppe , Theresia Földy , Vreni Lehmann , Beatrice Luterbacher )
Men's singles	1.	Hsi En-Ting - CHN
	2.	Kjell Johansson - SWE
	3.	Antun Stipančić - YUG
	3.	Dragutin Šurbek - YUG
Ladies singles	1.	Hu Yulan - CHN
	2.	Alica Grofová - TCH
	3.	Zhang Li - CHN
	3.	Mi Ra Park - COR
Men's doubles	1.	Stellan Bengtsson 2 / Kjell Johansson - SWE
	2.	István Jónyer / Tibor Klampár - HUN
	3.	Antun Stipančić / Dragutin Šurbek - YUG
	3.	Jean-Denis Constant / Jacques Secretin - FRA
Ladies doubles	1.	Maria Alexandru - ROM / Miho Hamada - JPN
	2.	Pao Chou / Mei Lin - CHN
	3.	Tazuko Abe / Tomie Edano - JPN
	3.	Beatrix Kisházi - HUN / Jill Parker-Hammersley-Shirley - ENG
Mixed	1.	Liang Geliang / Li Li - CHN
	2.	Anatoli Strokatow / Asta Stankene-Gedraitite - URS
	3.	Yu Chang-Chun / Cheng Huai-Ying - CHN
	3.	Josef Dvořáček / Alica Grofová - TCH

Medal table

rank	country	gold	silver	bronze	total
1	People's Republic of China	3	3	2	8th
2	Sweden	2	1	0	3
3	South Korea	1	0	1	2
4th	Japan	0.5	0	3	3.5
5	Romania	0.5	0	0	0.5
6th	Czechoslovakia	0	1	1	2
7th	Hungary	0	1	0.5	1.5
8th	Soviet Union	0	1	0	1
9	Yugoslavia	0	0	3	3
10	France	0	0	1	1
11	England	0	0	0.5	0.5
Total		7th	7th	12	26th

Web links

• Entry in ITTF database
• Table Tennis News April 1973 - Detailed report on the World Cup (accessed on March 21, 2013)
• Table Tennis News May / June 1973 - Detailed report on the World Cup (accessed on March 22, 2013)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Austrian Table Tennis Show 1971/01 (accessed on March 14, 2011; PDF; 4.5 MB)