Petr Korbel (born 6 June 1971 in
Havířov
Havířov (; pl, ) is a city in Karviná District in the Moravian-Silesian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 69,000 inhabitants, making it the second-largest city in the region. Havířov lies in the historical region of Cieszyn Silesia. ...
,
Czechoslovakia
, rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי,
, common_name = Czechoslovakia
, life_span = 1918–19391945–1992
, p1 = Austria-Hungary
, image_p1 ...
) is a Czech table tennis player who has competed in five Olympics from 1992 to 2008. His best performance was in 1996 when he came fourth in the singles, losing to Germany's
Jörg Roßkopf
Jörg Roßkopf (born May 22, 1969 in Dieburg, Hesse) is a former professional German table tennis player who is currently the head coach of the German Men's National Table Tennis Team. As a player, he won the title in Men's Doubles at the 1989 Wo ...
in the bronze medal match.
Petr Korbel is the most successful among the current Czech table tennis players. He has been one of the top European and world players for more than 10 years. Korbel's best position in the ITTF world rankings was 16th place in 2001. He is currently ranked 119th (October 2012).
In terms of playing style, Petr Korbel can be described as an offensive, technical two-wing looper. Another weapon of his is short game. Korbel is a right-handed shakehand player with an excellent use of the wrist when playing backhand loops. His spectacular backhand topspin with a strong sidespin, called "chiquita" after the curve of the ball, is well known among his competitors. Korbel uses this stroke to attack even very short and low serves, and this surprising stroke often brings points.
Korbel is a Butterfly contract player and co-operated on the development of a table tennis blade which has been produced under his name.
Big events appearance
* 15x European Championships
* 14x World Championships
* 5x Olympic Games
Career records
* 1988 – European Junior Champion
* 1991 – World Championships: 3rd in the team competition
* 1996 – Olympic Games: 4th place
* 2000 – 3rd position European Championship Single
* 2003, 2005, 2010 – European Championships: 3rd in the team competition
* 4-time winner of the Prague Open table tennis tournament
See also
*
List of athletes with the most appearances at Olympic Games
A small fraction of the world's population ever competes at the Olympic Games; an even smaller fraction ever competes in multiple Games. 849 athletes (260 women and 589 men) have participated in at least five Olympics from Athens 1896 to Beiji ...
External links
Sports-Reference Profile
1971 births
Living people
Czech male table tennis players
Olympic table tennis players for Czechoslovakia
Olympic table tennis players for the Czech Republic
Table tennis players at the 1992 Summer Olympics
Table tennis players at the 1996 Summer Olympics
Table tennis players at the 2000 Summer Olympics
Table tennis players at the 2004 Summer Olympics
Table tennis players at the 2008 Summer Olympics
Sportspeople from Havířov
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