OOAK Table Tennis Forum

A couple guys with funny accents wandered into the club last week. There was a rumor they may have won something in your neck of the woods (down under) previously. I wonder if someone here knows who they might be?

Yeh I know a couple of them. I’m sure they’re having fun, wish I was over there too.

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2. S&T Black & White / Armstrong SH-I 1.8 / TSP Curl P3 Alpha R OX

the guy in green in the first, second (and third) photo is Paul Pinkewich, who was on his way to the world vets in Las Vegas.
viewtopic.php?f=35&t=7433

Good! One Australian national champion down. One to go.

So here is the funny bit. When Paul emailed the club saying that they were going to be in the Bay Area, I remembered his name. You see the last time I was in Australia, about 30 years ago, I had attended the Australian Open in Sydney and watched him play.

So when Paul arrived at the club in Alameda, I was sharing my recollections of that Austrialian Open with him. I told him I recalled that the Aussies quite impressively won the men's doubles over China, but the current Australian Champ a young guy of around 20 had a tough time with the top Chinese player in the men's singles final. As I am saying this, a guy standing next to Paul asks, "Was the Australian bloke left handed?" I told him I could not recall as it was 30 years ago. A few minutes later as this fellow is hitting with one of our juniors and I realize he is the same Australian National Champion I watched in that Open final 30 years ago. Quite a coincidence.

So that is a pretty good hint. Can anyone identify the second Australian national champ in the photos?

Gary Haberl?
very nice story, alphapong!

Interesting. I watched him play in the World Cup in Kuala Lumpur.. Must've been 1980 or so. Klampar won the tournament. The press made much of his "Kangaroo Jump" (I think it was for killing high lobs).

Iskandar

Do you mean this?

Yep, you got it.

https://collections.ncc.nsw.gov.au/keemu/pages/nrm/Display.php?irn=8300&QueryPage=%2Fkeemu%2Fpages%2Fnrm%2FQuery.php

Paul and Gary both still play at a very high level. It was a treat for our juniors to get to play with them.

Yup.. that was it, except he had more hair back then. We all did..

Iskandar