Misha Zilberman ( he, מישה זילברמן, russian: Миша Зильберман; born 30 January 1989) is an Israeli

badminton Badminton is a racquet sport played using racquets to hit a shuttlecock across a net. Although it may be played with larger teams, the most common forms of the game are "singles" (with one player per side) and "doubles" (with two players pe ...

player. He competed for Israel at the

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gather ...

2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses during the 2016 Nagorno-Karabakh ...

, and

2020 Summer Olympics The , officially the and also known as , was an international multi-sport event held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some preliminary events that began on 21 July. Tokyo was selected as the host city during the ...

. He also won a

bronze medal A bronze medal in sports and other similar areas involving competition is a medal made of bronze awarded to the third-place finisher of contests or competitions such as the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, etc. The outright winner receive ...

at the 2022 European Badminton Championships, and represented Israel at the

2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the Apri ...

and

2019 European Games , translation: Time for bright victories! , nations participating = 50 , athletes participating = 4,082 , events = 200 in 15 sports , opening ceremony = 21 June , closing ceremony = 30 June , officially opened ...

. Zilberman is the first Israeli player to win a medal at the European Badminton Championships.

Early and personal life

Zilberman was born in Moscow,

Soviet Russia The Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, Russian SFSR or RSFSR ( rus, Российская Советская Федеративная Социалистическая Республика, Rossíyskaya Sovétskaya Federatívnaya Soci ...

. He is an only child of his father, Michael, and his mother, Svetlana Zilberman. His father was born in Russia in 1945, and

immigrated Immigration is the international movement of people to a destination country of which they are not natives or where they do not possess citizenship in order to settle as permanent residents or naturalized citizens. Commuters, tourists, and ...

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

in 1991, with his wife and son Misha, and worked in Pardes Hannah and then in

Rishon LeZion Rishon LeZion ( he, רִאשׁוֹן לְצִיּוֹן , ''lit.'' First to Zion, Arabic: راشون لتسيون) is a city in Israel, located along the central Israeli coastal plain south of Tel Aviv. It is part of the Gush Dan metropolitan ar ...

. Svetlana was born in Belarus. She began playing badminton at the age of 12, which is how she met Michael, who was her coach. Both his parents come from athletic backgrounds. His father was a member of the Soviet national floor

gymnastics Gymnastics is a type of sport that includes physical exercises requiring balance, strength, flexibility, agility, coordination, dedication and endurance. The movements involved in gymnastics contribute to the development of the arms, legs, shou ...

team until he retired as the result of an injury. He then became an assistant coach to the Soviet national team in badminton. Svetlana plays professional badminton. Her greatest accomplishment was winning a

in the 1986 European Badminton Championships for the USSR. Zilberman served in the

Israel Defense Forces The Israel Defense Forces (IDF; he, צְבָא הַהֲגָנָה לְיִשְׂרָאֵל , ), alternatively referred to by the Hebrew-language acronym (), is the national military of the Israel, State of Israel. It consists of three servic ...

from August 2007 to August 2010. He lives in

Ness Ziona Ness Ziona ( he, נֵס צִיּוֹנָה, ''Nes Tziyona'') is a town in central Israel. In it had a population of , and its jurisdiction was 15,579 dunams (). History Early history Lying within Ness Ziona's city bounds is the ruin of an Arab vi ...

, Israel.

Career

Early years

When he was still a baby Zilberman used to join his mother at her badminton practice, and with time he began playing himself. At the age of 12 he began his serious daily training. He began to compete in junior badminton tournaments in 2003. His club is Kfar Maccabiah. He is coached by both his parents, as his mother coaches him, and his father is head coach of Israel's national badminton team. Zilberman won the senior Israeli Badminton Championship when he was 16 years old, in 2004. In 2006 and 2009 he played mixed doubles with his mother at the Badminton World Championships, as the Championships' first mother-son mixed doubles team.

2010-19

In 2011, Zilberman competed for six months for the Odense badminton club in the professional league in Denmark. In April 2012 he reached the finals of the Tahiti Air Nui International, improving his world ranking by 14 places. In 2012, he won the Israeli Badminton Championship in both singles and mixed doubles (with his mother). In May 2012 he was ranked # 64 internationally. MishaZilberman DSC3095 799 1200

Zilberman competed for Israel at the

2012 Summer Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

, the first appearance by an Israeli badminton player in the Olympics. Ranked 33rd in the Olympic rankings in singles, he came in 33rd in the Games. In July 2013 Zilberman won two gold medals at the 2013 Maccabiah Games, one in singles, one in mixed doubles with his mother. In May 2015, he competed in mixed doubles with his mother, who was 56 years old, at the 2015 Sudirman Cup in Dongguan, China. Zilberman represented

Israel at the 2015 European Games Israel competed at the 2015 European Games, in Baku, Azerbaijan from 12 to 28 June 2015. The 2015 European Games represents Israel's largest ever delegation to a sports competition. Prior to the start of the event Israel planned to send 141 ath ...

in badminton in men's singles. He lost in the round of 16 to

Zvonimir Đurkinjak Zvonimir Đurkinjak (born 2 June 1988) is a Croatian badminton player who plays for the Medvedgrad 1998 badminton club. Career Đurkinjak started playing badminton when he was 10. At the Croatian National Badminton Championships he won the men ...

of Croatia in three sets. He competed for

Israel at the 2016 Summer Olympics Israel competed at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from 5 to 21 August 2016. It was the nation's sixteenth appearance at the Summer Olympics. The Olympic Committee of Israel confirmed a team of 47 athletes, 22 men and 25 wom ...

. Zilberman garnered Israel's first-ever win in Olympic badminton, beating

Yuhan Tan Yuhan Tan (born 21 April 1987 in Bilzen, Belgium) is a male left-handed badminton player and Orthopedic surgeon from Belgium. Born to a Chinese-Indonesian father and a Belgian mother, He is a 10 time Belgian Champion in the men's singles category ...

of Belgium 22-20 and 22-12, but went 1-1 in his group and did not advance to the next round. Misha ranked 26th in the Olympic rankings in singles, and came in 14th at the Olympic Games. Zilberman won a gold medal at the 2017 Maccabiah Games in singles, and another in mixed doubles with his mother.

2020-present

He competed for

Israel at the 2020 Summer Olympics Israel competed at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo with its largest contingent to date − a delegation of 90 athletes, 55 men and 35 women, who competed in 15 different sports. This was almost double the previous number of 47 athletes who repre ...

, in what was his third Olympics. He came in 14th at the Olympic Games, after he defeated world # 15, and 2019 world championship bronze medalist, Sai Praneeth Bhamidipati, but was defeated by

Mark Caljouw Mark Caljouw (born 25 January 1995) is a Dutch badminton player. He started playing badminton aged eight, at BC Randstad in Rijswijk. Career Caljouw was selected to join the national team in 2008, and made a debut in international senior tou ...

. At the 2022 European Badminton Championships, he won a bronze medal as he defeated Luka Ban of Croatia, Kari Gunnarson of Iceland,

of the Netherlands (ranked # 26 in the world), and 2018 European Championship bronze medalist Brice Leverdez of France in the quarterfinals, before losing to 2020 Olympic champion

Viktor Axelsen Viktor Axelsen (born 4 January 1994) is a Danish badminton player. He is the 2017 and 2022 World champion and the 2020 Olympic champion. He won the 2010 World Junior Championships, beating South Korea's Kang Ji-wook in the final to become the ...

of Denmark in the semi-finals.

Achievements

European Games

''Men's singles''

European Championships

''Men's singles''

BWF International Challenge/Series (13 titles, 10 runners-up)

''Men's singles'' ''Mixed doubles'' :

BWF International Challenge The BWF International Challenge is a grade 3 and level 1 tournament part of Continental Circuit of BWF tournaments along with International Series (level 2) and Future Series (level 3), sanctioned by Badminton World Federation (BWF) since 2007. ...

tournament :

BWF International Series The BWF International Series is a grade 3 and level 2 tournament part of Continental Circuit of BWF tournaments along with International Challenge (level 1) and Future Series (level 3), sanctioned by Badminton World Federation (BWF) since 2007. ...

tournament

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Zilberman, Misha 1989 births Living people Russian emigrants to Israel Badminton players from Moscow People from Ness Ziona Israeli male badminton players Badminton players at the 2012 Summer Olympics Badminton players at the 2016 Summer Olympics Olympic badminton players of Israel Badminton players at the 2015 European Games Badminton players at the 2019 European Games European Games bronze medalists for Israel European Games medalists in badminton Competitors at the 2013 Maccabiah Games Competitors at the 2017 Maccabiah Games Maccabiah Games gold medalists for Israel Maccabiah Games bronze medalists for Israel Maccabiah Games medalists in badminton Badminton players at the 2020 Summer Olympics