Antun Stipančić

Antun Stipančić was born in Duga Resa, a small industrial town in central Croatia's Karlovac County (at the time of his birth, and until summer-autumn 1991, Croatia was one of six republics constituting Yugoslavia). His family of five — father Ivan, a janitor at the football club, mother Franca and two younger brothers, Marijan and Ivica — had a difficult time trying to make ends meet. They lived in very modest circumstances in a damp apartment located at the football (soccer) playground which shared its location with the hall of the Table Tennis Club (TTC) "Duga Resa".

The following year, at the 1980 European Championships in Bern Tova won two medals playing doubles, but sportswriters pointed out that he showed his true sport greatness in the fifth set. At 19:19 he gave up the ball in favor of the English player Paul Day, although the referee decided the opposite. For that sport gesture he got "The Fair Play Trophy R. Bergmann".

In 1979 Tova flew to Pyongyang with his national team to the World Championship in Pyongyang with his national team. "Why not try again?", he explained. "I always fought more with my hand and heart than with my legs" and the medal hunters, the experienced double Šurbek – Stipančić were off to win the table tennis Mount Everest! At the finals of the men's doubles, Tova and Šurba were on one side and two very well known competitors, Hungarian aces Klampar and Jonyer, were on the other. European finals held on Asian grounds. Victory for the Yugoslav team came with 3 sets to 0, and they were acclaimed as table tennis immortals for all time. The victors searched for appropriate words, and Tova, raising his voice said, "Men, I finally experienced it, we are the real champions. Nobody could take us a set."

He was one of the most renowned personalities in the history of the competition, earning him the nickname "the golden left hand of Croatian sport". A table tennis child prodigy who was proclaimed "Best Croatian Sportsman" in 1975, he was National Championship winner numerous times, three times European Champion in doubles, World Champion in men's doubles in 1979 (Stipančić–Šurbek), and World Championship silver medalist in singles in 1975.

In 1975 India built the Netaji Indoor Stadium, a 12,000-seat domed arena, specifically for the World Championships at the Eden Gardens, Kolkata. There, Tova is considered to have played the matches of his life... At the quarter-finals - a "match for the gourmet" - Hsi En Ting, the title defender left the arena totally defeated by Tova in a rarely seen match, 3:2. In the next game - and it was the semi-final, Antun played against the excellent Japanese defender Takashima. Antun's superior play brought victory in 5 sets !

In 1972 Zagreb played host to a tournament which brought together the top European table tennis players. It was a complete success in organization and results. It was a top show, with "Europe's Top Twelve" in Zagreb's Trešnjevka sport hall.... and Tova was in the leading role! He broke all the barriers and won the trophy which was presented to him by Reno Vinek, the editor of Sportske Novosti.

During summer 1970 came the unexpected decision, although not so unexpected among table tennis officials: Tova left his "Pamučna industrija" club and became a member of TTC "Vjesnik". The basic reason for moving from the smaller club to the larger one was the need for an adequately strong sparring partner (and none was more suitable than Šurbek or Čordaš), as well as the great challenge of taking part in The European Cup. With the new uniform he put on, there was still another major event: not long afterwards Tova Stipančić was married... As 1971 began, he moved to Zagreb, recalling that "...the new surrounding, new habits, days of great changes... was time for thinking".

He played with a great deal of enthusiasm at the 1968 Championat de Europe at Lyon Sport Hall. He was very good in team events and still better in a completely unplanned double. The Association at the time made a new combination Korpa - Šurbek which was triumphant in Europe, while Tova, they decided, should play with Edvard Vecko, although they never trained or played before. Tova recalled, "...unburdened, without high pretensions we played you can say for our pleasure. In the final "round" we played against Swedish experts Johanson and Alser who did not lose a single match in two last world championships. We played the whole match offensively, well, firmly. The result went like this, 21:17, 20:22, 22:20 and 21:14! A big applause from the objective spectators in Palais des Sportes was a great reward. What an unforgettable reception at the Pleso airport and again in Duga Resa! I had to make a speech at the improvised platform, everyone was there...."

The crucial year was 1965. In that year the famous Japanese expert Ichiro Ogimura visited Duga Resa, leading a strong selection which enraptured the overcrowded table tennis hall. Stipančić recalled that "Ogimura impressed me with his easy way of moving around and attacking although at that time he passed his best days in table tennis". Another direct contact with a great player occurred at the world championships in Ljubljana in which Tova played for the first time. As chosen by lot, or by accident, he had to play against the world champion Zhuang Zedong. He later confessed that his knees could not hold him, but nevertheless he scored some very good points, which brought him compliments from the Chinese champion. He tapped Tova on the shoulder and they were photographed together, despite the lopsided result (8:21, 11:21, 14:21). After a passage of only five years, at the very same Tivoli hall, Stipančić would now be the champion, thoroughly defeating the legendary Chuang Tse Tung.

In 1965, at the age of 16, was no longer a youngster — he grew a few centimeters and became stronger for a few points. At the Open Championships of Poland in Krakow he won his first important international match — in the second round he defeated the European champion Swede Kjell Johanson 24:22 in the fifth set, winning Johanson's two match balls. And as Antun Stipančić firmly stepped forward onto the world table tennis scene, the highest world authorities agreed that he would have a brilliant career. In 1966 Tova was a member of the national team to the European Championships in Wembley. That year he won two medals on The Youth European Championships in Szombathely — gold, playing mixed doubles with Mirjana Resler and silver, playing doubles with Zlatko Čordaš.

As time passed and word began to spread, more and more curiosity seekers began to visit the table tennis halls to see with their own eyes the Duga Resa youngster, called "the wonder kid". "Tova" Stipančić won his first tournament at the age of 12 in 1961, playing in Karlovac League's cadet category and, a few months later, was the best at Zagreb's "Ribnjak".

At the end of the 1950s, a group of sport enthusiasts led by Josip Trupković, Josip Stojković and Dragutin Vrana brought inspiration to the little-noted town and its young people with a new sport - table tennis. The TTC "Pamučna industrija" was born and its priority was to coach the next generation.

Antun "Tova" Stipančić (Duga Resa, 18 May 1949 – Zagreb, 20 November 1991) was a highly accomplished Croatian / Yugoslav professional table tennis player.