Miklós Szabados (7 March 1912 – 12 February 1962) was a Hungarian and Australian table tennis champion.

Table tennis career

Szabados was born in

Budapest, Hungary Budapest is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns of Hungary, most populous city of Hungary. It is the List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, tenth-largest city in the European Union by popul ...

on 7 March 1912. He first started playing table tennis when he was thirteen, and defeated Victor Barna in a tournament in 1927. From 1928 to 1935, Szabados won the world doubles title six times (1929–32 and 1934–35). He won mixed doubles three times (1930, 1931, and 1934), and was a member of the Swaythling Cup team five times (1929–31, 1934, and 1935). He won four world events in 1931: singles, doubles, mixed doubles, and the Swaythling Cup. As his mother had been born

Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

, Szabados left his studies at the

University of Berlin The Humboldt University of Berlin (, abbreviated HU Berlin) is a public research university in the central borough of Mitte in Berlin, Germany. The university was established by Frederick William III on the initiative of Wilhelm von Humbol ...

in 1933 and fled to Paris. He moved to Britain in 1936. He won five

English Open The English Open was a professional golf tournament held in England. First played in 1988, it was an annual event on the European Tour until 2002. After several aborted attempts at reviving the tournament, it returned to the tour schedule in 20 ...

titles. Szabados toured the Far East, South America, and Australia on an exhibition tour with István Kelen starting in 1937. At the Australian championships in Sydney, they won the doubles tournament, and Szabados won over Kelen for the singles title. Szabados emigrated to Sydney after the tour and opened a table tennis club. He married Marie Alice Bracher in 1941, and they had one son, Sandor . They were divorced in 1954. While serving with the Allied Works Council during World War II, Szabados he was stationed at

Alice Springs Alice Springs () is a town in the Northern Territory, Australia; it is the third-largest settlement after Darwin, Northern Territory, Darwin and Palmerston, Northern Territory, Palmerston. The name Alice Springs was given by surveyor William ...

, Northern Territory, in 1943–44. During this period he used his time to play and teach table tennis to his colleagues at the Works Council and play bridge with the Northern Territory's administrator's wife. As a result, he played more bridge than anything else as he was already an NSW Bridge champion. He won the singles title at the Australian Table Tennis Championship in 1950 and 1952, and won doubles in 1950 and mixed doubles in 1955. He continued to run table tennis academies and coach. His students Cliff McDonald and Michael Wilcox both won the Australian singles championships. He died of pneumonia on 12 February 1962 in Sydney.

Hall of Fame

Szabados was born a Catholic in 1912. His mother, Rosa Schwarz, converted to Catholicism at her marriage. As a Jew by birth, Szabados was posthumously inducted into the

International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame The International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame (IJSHOF) () is the international hall of fame for Jewish athletes and special contributors to the world of sport. The purpose of the IJSHOF is to honor Jewish individuals, worldwide, who have accompli ...

in 1987. Szabados was inducted into the International Table Tennis Foundation Hall of Fame in 1993.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Szabados, Miklos Table tennis players from Budapest Hungarian male table tennis players Australian male table tennis players 1912 births 1962 deaths Hungarian emigrants to Australia 20th-century Australian sportsmen 20th-century Hungarian sportsmen