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Legends who played 2017 ITTF Legends Tour in Metz, France:
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Sweden’s Jorgen Persson-1991 World Men’s Singles Champion, 4-time World Team Champion, 7-time Olympian-I have been in the same training group as him in Sweden and practiced with his World Champion teammates Mikael Appelgren, Peter Karlsson, and Erik Lindh but have never got the chance to play with Persson. I also had the same World Champion coaches as him in Sweden, Stellan Bengtsson and Ulf Tickan Carlsson. I was in Sweden when they won their final World Championship over China in 2000 watching with their Swedish teammates and it was big news in Sweden. The Swedish players knew they were nearing the end of their careers and knew 2000 may have been their final time the Swedish golden generation led by Persson and Jan-Ove Waldner would have a chance to beat China at the Worlds and they did.Germany’s Jorg Rosskopf-1992 European Men’s Singles Champion, 1989 World Doubles Champion, 2-time Olympic Medalist (Pictures I took of him with his bronze medal and on medal stand during 1996 Atlanta Olympics)
Belgium’s Jean-Michel Saive-former World #1, 1994 European Men’s Singles Champion, 1993 World Men’s Singles Finalist, 7-time Olympian-Household name in Belgium who has been flagbearer for Belgium during the Olympics- I was able to practice with him when he came to a recent US tournament.
China’s Jiang Jialiang-1985 and 1987 World Men’s Singles Champion, 3-time World Team Champion-He came here locally 10 years back and I did an exhibition with him. He was as famous in China in the 1980s as Magic Johnson or Michael Jordan here.
1992 European Men’s Singles Champion, 1989 World Doubles Champion, and 2-time Olympic Medalist Jorg Rosskopf of Germany won the 2017 ITTF Legends Tour. The final was a repeat of the 1992 European Men’s final where he beat Jean-Michel Saive of Belgium. When Rosskopf won the World Doubles Championship in 1989 with Steffen Fetzner in Germany in front of their raucous home crowd, it really helped boost table-tennis in Germany. Germany has arguably the best league system in the world. I was sitting courtside doing stats and scorekeeping at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics during Rosskopf’s quarterfinal men’s singles match with Korea’s Kim Taek Soo to decide who would make the medal rounds (Rosskopf would win bronze). It ended 26-24 in the deciding game and it was so exciting, I couldn’t stop shaking at the end of the 5th game and the crowd gave a standing ovation at the end of the match. This also was the first time that Rosskopf had beaten Kim Taek Soo in their international careers![/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]
