Vladimir Samsonov

Vladimir Samsonov
Uładzimir Samsonaŭ
Samsonov at the 2013 World Championships
Personal information
Full name Vladimir Viktorovich Samsonov; Uładzimir Viktaravich Samsonaŭ
Nickname(s) Vladi
Nationality  Belarus
Born (1976-04-17) April 17, 1976[1]
Minsk, Belarus[2]
Playing style Right-handed, shakehand grip
Equipment(s) Tibhar: blade – Samsonov Force Pro Black Edition, rubbers – Evolution MX-S
Highest ranking 1[3]
Current ranking 15 (November 2017)
Club Royal Villette Charleroi[2]
Height 189 cm (6 ft 2 in)[4]
Weight 83 kg (183 lb)

Vladimir Samsonov or Uładzimir Samsonaŭ (Belarusian: Уладзімір Віктаравіч Самсонаў, born April 17, 1976) is a Belarusian professional table tennis player, ranked 18th as of December 2017.[5][1] He is known in China as the "Tai Chi Master" because of his superb all-around style, both offensive and defensive.[6] Samsonov competed at six consecutive Olympics between 1996 and 2016, placing fourth-fifth individually in 1996, 2000 and 2016.[2]

Career

Samsonov is also known as Mr. ECL (European Champions League) for participating in the tournament for at least 15 years straight and because he currently holds twelve ECL winner titles – three with Borussia, five with Charleroi, and four with Fakel Orenburg. He began his European club career when he joined Borussia Düsseldorf in 1994, then seven years later moved to Royal Charleroi in Belgium. In 2008 he moved to Spain to play for Cajagranada, but two years later he moved to the Russian superleague club Fakel Orenburg.

Samsonov is famous for being a top-10 player longer than anyone else in official ranking history save for the legend of table tennis Jan-Ove Waldner. He first joined the top-10 in 1996, then climbed to the top position in 1998. He stayed in the top-10 for 15 years until November 2011. He is ranked #18 as of December 2017.[5] He also currently holds the distinction of being the player with most ITTF ProTour titles (27[7]). He was runner-up in the 1997 World championships, and is also a three-times European champion (1998, 2003, 2005) and three-times World Cup winner (1999, 2001, 2009).

Samsonov was awarded the Richard Bergmann Fair Play Trophy at the world championships a record three times, in 2003, 2007 and 2013.[8]

Personal life

Since the age of seven, Samsonov has been coached by Andrei Petkevich.

References

  1. 1 2 "ITTF player's profile". International Table Tennis Federation. Archived from the original on June 16, 2011. Retrieved August 15, 2010.
  2. 1 2 3 "Vladimir Samsonov". Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved 2010-08-18.
  3. ↑ "ITTF Museum". International Table Tennis Federation. Retrieved 2010-12-26.
  4. ↑ Vladimir Samsonov Archived October 13, 2016, at the Wayback Machine.. rio2016.com
  5. 1 2 "ITTF Ranking List (Men)". International Table Tennis Federation.
  6. ↑ Vladimir Samsonov. nbcolympics.com
  7. ↑ 27th Gold for Samsonov ittf.com
  8. ↑ Award Winners Archived April 18, 2016, at the Wayback Machine.. ittf.com
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