Hans Alsér (23 January 1942 – 15 January 1977) was a
Swedish international
table tennis
Table tennis, also known as ping-pong and whiff-whaff, is a sport in which two or four players hit a lightweight ball, also known as the ping-pong ball, back and forth across a table using small solid rackets. It takes place on a hard table div ...
player and later the
head coach
A head coach, senior coach or manager is a professional at training and developing athletes. They typically hold a more public profile and are paid more than other Coach (sport), coaches. In some sports, the head coach is instead called the "manage ...
of West German (1971–1974) and Swedish (1974–1977) national teams. His nickname, Hasse (Alsér or Alser), was often used in media.
Table tennis career
Hans Alsér was an international top level player. He was the
European champion (singles) 1962 and 1970,
World champion
A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...
(doubles) 1967 and 1969, and European champion (doubles) 1966.
Hans Alsér was Swedish singles Champion six times. During the years 1960–1971 he played in the Swedish singles Championship final every year. The years when he did not become the Swedish singles Champion he was second placed. In 1967 he also became Swedish mixed double Champion with Eva Johansson.
He also won an
English Open title.
His playing style was more all-round than most other players in the 1960s. He could attack close to the table but also defend far from the table. He mastered top-spin, chopping, looping and all other types of play.
Stiga
Stiga Group (formerly GGP Spa) is a European manufacturer and distributor of lawnmowers and a wide range of motorized garden tools. It is headquartered in Castelfranco Veneto (Italy). Stiga has 13 subsidiaries in Europe (Austria, Italy, Benelu ...
(manufacturer of table tennis tables, rackets, rubber and balls) made a very popular racket with the Alsér-grip.
It became thicker towards the end of the grip, decreasing the risk of the racket slipping out of the player's grip.
He died in 1977 at the age of 34 in a
plane crash
An aviation accident is defined by the Convention on International Civil Aviation Annex 13 as an occurrence associated with the operation of an aircraft, which takes place from the time any person boards the aircraft with the ''intention of fl ...
at
Kälvesta near
Stockholm.
See also
*
List of table tennis players
This list of table tennis players is alphabetically ordered by surname. The main source of the information included in this page is the official International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) database. More detailed information about their careers i ...
*
List of World Table Tennis Championships medalists
Results of individual events
The tables below are medalists of individual events (men's and women's singles, men's and women's doubles and mixed).
Men's singles
Medal table
Women's singles
The champion of women's singles in 1937 was declared ...
References
External links
Stiga Company History, Photo of Stellan Bengtsson, Kjell Johansson, Hans Alsér.Stiga Company History, the Hans Alsér racket.
1942 births
1977 deaths
People from Borås
Swedish male table tennis players
Swedish table tennis coaches
Victims of aviation accidents or incidents in Sweden
Sportspeople from Västra Götaland County
{{Sweden-tabletennis-bio-stub