Ilija Lupulesku: Difference between revisions

Ilija Lupulesku
Ilija Lupulesku
	Ilija Lupulesku
Personal information
Full name	Ilija Lupulesku
Nationality	Yugoslavia; Yugoslavia; Vereinigte Staaten
Born	30 October 1967 (age 56); Zrenjanin, SR Serbia, SFR Yugoslavia
Height	5 ft 11 in (180 cm)
Table tennis career
Playing style	Left-handed
Medal record
Men's table tennis
Representing / Yugoslavia
Olympic Games
World Championships
World Cup
European Championships
Mediterranean Games

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Ilija Lupulesku (Serbian Cyrillic: Илија Лупулеску; Romanian: Ilia Lupulescu;^[1] born October 30, 1967) is a former Yugoslavian and later American^[2] table tennis player who competed at the 1988, 1992, 1996, 2000 and 2004 Summer Olympics. He became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 2002^[2] and competed for the United States from 2004 to 2006. Ilija Lupulesku played his first game of table tennis at age nine in his small hometown of Uzdin, Yugoslavia. After seeing other children playing at his local school, he picked up a paddle and began what would become his life's ambition. Despite his love and talent for soccer, Lupulesku, under the watchful eye of first coach Jon Bosika, committed himself to training and by age 14 was the top player on the Yugoslavian Junior National Table Tennis Team. Over the next 12 years, he would rise through the ranks of the world's best players and become one of the largest sport celebrities in his native Yugoslavia.^[3]

Early career

Ilija Lupulesku is of Romanian origins.^[4] In 1988 he won the Seoul Olympic silver medal in the men's doubles together with Croatian Zoran Primorac. In 1991 regarded as one of the best players in the sport and also made up one-half of what many at the time called the greatest doubles team ever. Between 1989 and 1991, Lupulesku and doubles mate Primorac reached the semifinals or finals of every major tournament in the world. But by the end of 1991, war ripped through the region and the Croatian Primorac and Yugoslavian Lupulesku were no longer permitted to play together. While Primorac moved on to live and play in Belgium, Lupulesku remained in FR Yugoslavia and joined the military, where he continued to train.

A year later he competed as an Independent Olympic Participant but was eliminated in the first round in singles and in the quarterfinals in doubles. In 1996 and 2000 he competed for FR Yugoslavia and in 2004 he participated for the United States. He thus competed under four different flags, a label shared by Serbian shooter Jasna Šekarić.

From 1992 to 1997 he was married to Jasna Fazlić.

Recent career

His natural quickness and instincts for the sport combined with unmatched control and a left-handed trickiness have made Lupi one of the world's toughest match-ups and a feared competitor to this day. As the elder statesman of team Killerspin, Lupulesku has taken on the dual role of player and coach for the team's young stars. While still playing at a world-class level, he is overseeing the training of American phenom Mark Hazinski and has embraced his role as Killerspin's resident mentor. He is also arguably one of the top two or three best players on U.S. soil.

Lupulesku has a message for young players who have a desire to one day compete at a world-class level: "Young players need to practice hard, as many as four hours a day and also do something for physical conditioning, for speed" Lupulesku says. "After one year of training, young players need to compete somewhere in tournaments. It doesn't matter where. You need to face many different players because if you do not face players with different styles, it is very hard to become a good player yourself." "When I was young, just starting, I played all the tournaments I could. When you play tournaments you will lose in the beginning, but that's ok. After a time you will gain important experience from those tournaments and you will start to beat some good players. If you only practice and do not play tournaments, you will never know how good you really are."^[5]

Results and Accomplishments

Four-time US Men's Singles Champion (2002, 2003, 2005, 2007)
Five-time US Men's Doubles Champion (2003, 2004, 2005, 2007, 2010)
2003 US Mixed Doubles Champion
2001 & 2002 North American Team Champion
1990 European Men's Doubles Champion, three-time Runner-up
1988 Olympic Silver Medalist, Men's Doubles
1987 World Championships Men's Doubles Finalist
Two-time European Mixed Doubles Champion, two-time Runner-up
Four-time Yugoslavian Men's Singles Champion
Ten-time Men's Doubles and ten-time Mixed Doubles Champion

He is one of seven table tennis players to have competed at the first five Olympics since the sport was introduced to the Games in 1988. The others are Swede Jörgen Persson, Croatian Zoran Primorac, Belgian Jean-Michel Saive, Hungarian Csilla Bátorfi, Swede Jan-Ove Waldner, and German Jörg Roßkopf.

References

^ Petrică, Vasilie (29 November 2021). "Mențiuni speciale pentru antrenorii români". Libertatea (in Romanian).
^ ^a ^b "NBC Sports Profile". NBC Sports. 2008. Archived from the original on 2016-03-03. Retrieved 2012-02-08.
^ "ITTF_Database". Archived from the original on 2012-10-17. Retrieved 2007-06-22.
^ Dobrescu, Petre (26 January 2015). "Un român de 14 ani a făcut senzație la CM de ping pong". Libertatea (in Romanian).
^ Killerspin Biography

External links

[1] Petrică, Vasilie (29 November 2021). "Mențiuni speciale pentru antrenorii români". Libertatea (in Romanian).

[citizenship-2] "NBC Sports Profile". NBC Sports. 2008. Archived from the original on 2016-03-03. Retrieved 2012-02-08.

[3] "ITTF_Database". Archived from the original on 2012-10-17. Retrieved 2007-06-22.

[4] Dobrescu, Petre (26 January 2015). "Un român de 14 ani a făcut senzație la CM de ping pong". Libertatea (in Romanian).

[5] Killerspin Biography

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@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
-{{Infobox Tabletennis player|
+{{short description|Table tennis player}}
+{{Infobox table tennis player
-| playername= Ilija Lupulesku
+| name= Ilija Lupulesku
-| image=
+| image=Ilija Lupulesku 2016.jpg
-| imagesize=
-| caption =
+| imagesize= 240px
+| caption = Ilija Lupulesku
 | fullname = Ilija Lupulesku
 | nicknames =
-| nationality = {{SRB}}
+| nationality = {{YUG}}<br>{{FR-YUG}}<br>{{USA}}
 | playingstyle = Left-handed
-| birthdate = {{birth date and age|1967|10|30}}
+| birth_date  = {{Birth date and age|1967|10|30|df=y}}
-| birthplace = [[Uzdin]], [[Serbia]]
+| birth_place = [[Zrenjanin]], [[SR Serbia]], [[SFR Yugoslavia]]
-| height = 5'11"
+| height = 5 ft 11 in
-| deathdate =
+| death_date  =
-| deathplace =
+| death_place =
+| medaltemplates =
+{{MedalSport | Men's [[table tennis]]}}
+{{MedalCountry | {{flagicon|YUG}}/{{flagicon|FR Yugoslavia}} [[Yugoslavia]] }}
+{{MedalCompetition|[[Table tennis at the Summer Olympics|Olympic Games]]}}
+{{MedalSilver | 1988 Seoul | Doubles}}
+{{MedalCompetition | [[World Table Tennis Championships|World Championships]]}}
+{{MedalSilver | 1987 New Delhi | Doubles}}
+{{MedalSilver | 1991 Chiba City | Team}}
+{{MedalCompetition | [[Table Tennis World Cup|World Cup]]}}
+{{MedalBronze | 1990 Seoul | Doubles}}
+{{MedalCompetition | [[Table Tennis European Championships|European Championships]]}}
+{{MedalGold | 1988 Paris | Mixed Doubles}}
+{{MedalGold | 1990 Gothenburg | Doubles}}
+{{MedalGold | 1998 Eindhoven | Mixed Doubles}}
+{{MedalSilver | 1986 Prague | Mixed Doubles}}
+{{MedalSilver | 1988 Paris | Doubles}}
+{{MedalSilver | 1998 Eindhoven | Doubles}}
+{{MedalSilver | 2000 Bremen | Doubles}}
+{{MedalSilver | 2000 Bremen | Mixed Doubles}}
+{{MedalBronze | 1986 Prague | Doubles}}
+{{MedalBronze | 1992 Stuttgart | Doubles}}
+{{MedalCompetition|[[Mediterranean Games]]}}
+{{MedalGold | [[1987 Mediterranean Games|1987 Latakia]] | Doubles}}
+{{MedalGold | 1987 Latakia | Mixed Doubles}}
+{{MedalGold | [[1991 Mediterranean Games|1991 Athens]] | Doubles}}
+{{MedalBronze | 1987 Latakia | Singles}}
 |}}
+'''Ilija Lupulesku''' ({{lang-sr-cyr|Илија Лупулеску}}; {{lang-ro|Ilia Lupulescu}};<ref>{{cite news|url=https://libertatea.rs/mentiuni-speciale-pentru-antrenorii-romani/|title=Mențiuni speciale pentru antrenorii români|first=Vasilie|last=Petrică|newspaper=[[Libertatea (Pančevo)|Libertatea]]|date=29 November 2021|language=ro}}</ref> born October 30, 1967) is a former [[Yugoslavia]]n and later American<ref name='citizenship'>{{cite web | url = http://archive.universalsports.com/ViewImage.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=23000&PHOTOID=1176583 | title = NBC Sports Profile | access-date = 2012-02-08 | date = 2008 | publisher = [[NBC Sports]] | archive-date = 2016-03-03 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160303213048/http://archive.universalsports.com/ViewImage.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=23000&PHOTOID=1176583 | url-status = dead }}</ref> [[table tennis]] player who competed at the [[1988 Summer Olympics|1988]], [[1992 Summer Olympics|1992]], [[1996 Summer Olympics|1996]], [[2000 Summer Olympics|2000]] and [[2004 Summer Olympics]]. He became a [[naturalized citizen|naturalized]] U.S. citizen in 2002<ref name="citizenship" /> and competed for the United States from 2004 to 2006. Ilija Lupulesku played his first game of table tennis at age nine in his small hometown of Uzdin, Yugoslavia. After seeing other children playing at his local school, he picked up a paddle and began what would become his life's ambition. Despite his love and talent for soccer, Lupulesku, under the watchful eye of first coach Jon Bosika, committed himself to training and by age 14 was the top player on the Yugoslavian Junior National Table Tennis Team. Over the next 12 years, he would rise through the ranks of the world's best players and become one of the largest sport celebrities in his native Yugoslavia.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.ittf.com/ittf_stats/All_events3.asp?ID=4394 |title=ITTF_Database |access-date=2007-06-22 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121017021621/http://www.ittf.com/ittf_stats/All_events3.asp?ID=4394 |archive-date=2012-10-17 }}</ref>
-{{MedalTop}}
-{{MedalSport | Men's [[Table tennis at the Summer Olympics|Table tennis]]}}
-{{MedalSilver| [[1988 Summer Olympics|1988 Seoul]] | [[Table tennis at the 1988 Summer Olympics|Doubles]]}}
-{{MedalBottom}}
-'''Ilija Lupulesku''' (born [[October 30]], [[1967]] in [[Uzdin]]) is a former [[Yugoslavia|Yugoslav]] and now [[United States|American]] [[table tennis]] player who competed in the [[1988 Summer Olympics]], in the [[1992 Summer Olympics]], in the [[1996 Summer Olympics]], in the [[2000 Summer Olympics]], and in the [[2004 Summer Olympics]].  Ilija Lupulesku played his first game of table tennis at age nine in his small hometown of Uzdin, Yugoslavia. After seeing other children playing at his local school, Lupi picked up a paddle and began what would become his life's ambition. Despite his love and talent for soccer, Lupi, under the watchful eye of first coach Jon Bosika, committed himself to training and by age 14 was the top player on the Yugoslavian Junior National Table Tennis Team.Over the next 12 years, Lupi would rise through the ranks of the world's best players and become one of the largest celebrities in his native Yugoslavia.
 ==Early career==
+Ilija Lupulesku is of [[Romanians|Romanian]] origins.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.libertatea.ro/sport/un-roman-de-14-ani-facut-senzatie-la-cm-de-ping-pong-1389017|title=Un român de 14 ani a făcut senzație la CM de ping pong|first=Petre|last=Dobrescu|newspaper=[[Libertatea]]|date=26 January 2015|language=ro}}</ref> In 1988 he won the Seoul Olympic silver medal in the men's doubles together with Croatian [[Zoran Primorac]]. In 1991 regarded as one of the best players in the sport and also made up one-half of what many at the time called the greatest doubles team ever. Between 1989 and 1991, Lupulesku and doubles mate Primorac reached the semifinals or finals of every major tournament in the world. But by the end of 1991, war ripped through the region and the Croatian Primorac and Yugoslavian Lupulesku were no longer permitted to play together. While Primorac moved on to live and play in Belgium, Lupulesku remained in [[FR Yugoslavia]] and joined the military, where he continued to train.
+A year later he competed as an [[Independent Olympic Participants at the 1992 Summer Olympics|Independent Olympic Participant]] but was eliminated in the first round in singles and in the quarterfinals in doubles. In 1996 and 2000 he competed for FR Yugoslavia and in 2004 he participated for the United States. He thus competed under four different flags, a label shared by Serbian shooter [[Jasna Šekarić]].
-In 1988 he won the Seul Olympic silver medal in the men's doubles together with [[Zoran Primorac]].  In 1991 regarded as one of the best players in the sport and also made up one-half of what many at the time called the greatest doubles team ever. Between 1989 and 1991, Lupi and doubles mate Zoran Primorec reached the semifinals or finals of every major tournament in the world. But by the end of 1991, war ripped through the region and the Croatian Primorec and Yugoslavian Lupulesku were no longer permitted to play together. While Primorec moved on to live and play in Belgium, Lupi remained in Yugoslavia and joined the military, where he continued to train.
-Four years later he competed as an [[Independent Olympic Participants at the 1992 Summer Olympics|Independent Olympic Participant]] but was eliminated in the first round in singles and in the quarterfinals in doubles.
-In 1996 and 2000 he again competed for Yugoslavia and in 2004 he participated for the United States.
 From 1992 to 1997 he was married to [[Jasna Fazlić]].
-==Recent Career==
+==Recent career==
-His natural quickness and instincts for the sport combined with unmatched control and a left-handed trickiness have made Lupi one of the world's toughest match-ups and a feared competitor to this day. as the elder statesman of team Killerspin, Lupi has taken on the dual role of player and coach for the team's young stars. While still playing at a world-class level, Lupi is overseeing the training of American phenom Mark Hazinski and has embraced his role as Killerspin's resident mentor. He is also arguably one of the top two or three best players on U.S. soil.
+His natural quickness and instincts for the sport combined with unmatched control and a left-handed trickiness have made Lupi one of the world's toughest match-ups and a feared competitor to this day. As the elder statesman of team Killerspin, Lupulesku has taken on the dual role of player and coach for the team's young stars. While still playing at a world-class level, he is overseeing the training of American phenom [[Mark Hazinski]] and has embraced his role as Killerspin's resident mentor. He is also arguably one of the top two or three best players on U.S. soil.
-Lupi has a message for young players who have a desire to one day compete at a world-class level: "Young players needd to practice hard, as many as four hours a day and also do something for physical conditioning, for speed" Lupulesku says. "After one year of training, young players need to compete somewhere in tournaments. It doesn't matter where. You need to face many different players because if you do not face players with different styles, it is very hard to become a good player yourself." "When i was young, just starting, i played all the tournaments i could. When you play tournaments you will lose in the beginning, but that's ok. After a time you will gain important experience from those tournaments and you will start to beat some good players. If you only practice and do not play tournaments, you will never know how good you really are."<ref>[http://www.killerspin.com/ Killerspin Biography]</ref>
+Lupulesku has a message for young players who have a desire to one day compete at a world-class level: "Young players need to practice hard, as many as four hours a day and also do something for physical conditioning, for speed" Lupulesku says. "After one year of training, young players need to compete somewhere in tournaments. It doesn't matter where. You need to face many different players because if you do not face players with different styles, it is very hard to become a good player yourself." "When I was young, just starting, I played all the tournaments I could. When you play tournaments you will lose in the beginning, but that's ok. After a time you will gain important experience from those tournaments and you will start to beat some good players. If you only practice and do not play tournaments, you will never know how good you really are."<ref>[http://www.killerspin.com/ Killerspin Biography]</ref>
 ==Results and Accomplishments==
-*2005 US Nationals Champion
+*Four-time US Men's Singles Champion (2002, 2003, 2005, 2007)
-*2003 US Nationals Champion
+*Five-time US Men's Doubles Champion (2003, 2004, 2005, 2007, 2010)
-*2002 U.S. Men’s Singles Champion
+*2003 US Mixed Doubles Champion
+*2001 & 2002 North American Team Champion
-*2002 U.S. Open Elite Singles
+*1990 European Men's Doubles Champion, three-time Runner-up
-*2001 & 2002 North American Team Champion
+*1988 Olympic Silver Medalist, Men's Doubles
-*1990 European Men’s Doubles Champion, 3-time Runner-up
-*1988 Olympic Silver Medalist, Men’s Doubles
+*1987 World Championships Men's Doubles Finalist
+*Two-time European Mixed Doubles Champion, two-time Runner-up
-*1987 World Championships Men’s Doubles Finalist
-*Two-time European Mixed Doubles Champion, 2-time Runner-up.
+*Four-time Yugoslavian Men's Singles Champion
+*Ten-time Men's Doubles and ten-time Mixed Doubles Champion
-*Four-time Yugoslavian Men’s Singles Champion,
-*10-time Men’s Doubles and 10-time Mixed Doubles Champion
+He is one of seven table tennis players to have competed at the first five Olympics since the sport was introduced to the Games in 1988. The others are Swede [[Jörgen Persson]], Croatian [[Zoran Primorac]], Belgian [[Jean-Michel Saive]], Hungarian [[Csilla Bátorfi]], Swede [[Jan-Ove Waldner]], and German [[Jörg Roßkopf]].
-==External links==
+==See also==
+* [[List of table tennis players]]
-*[http://www.ittf.com/ittf_stats/All_events3.asp?ID=4394&NAMES=LUPULESKU+Ilija+%28USA%29&Assoc1=USA&Assoc=&s_Gender=&s_Names=Lupulesku& playing record]
+* [[List of athletes with the most appearances at Olympic Games]]
-*[http://www.databaseolympics.com/players/playerpage.htm?ilkid=LUPULILI01 profile]
 ==References==
-{{reflist}}
+{{Reflist}}
+==External links==
+*[http://www.ittf.com/ittf_stats/All_events3.asp?ID=4394&NAMES=LUPULESKU+Ilija+%28USA%29&Assoc1=USA&Assoc=&s_Gender=&s_Names=Lupulesku& Ilija Lupulesku at ITTF.com]
+*[https://web.archive.org/web/20070930025057/http://www.databaseolympics.com/players/playerpage.htm?ilkid=LUPULILI01 Ilija Lupulesku at databaseOlympics.com]
+{{Footer European Champions Table Tennis Doubles Men}}
+{{Footer European Champions Table Tennis Doubles Mixed}}
 {{DEFAULTSORT:Lupulesku, Ilija}}
-[[Category:1970 births]]
+[[Category:1967 births]]
 [[Category:Living people]]
+[[Category:Serbian male table tennis players]]
 [[Category:Yugoslav table tennis players]]
-[[Category:American table tennis players]]
 [[Category:Table tennis players at the 1988 Summer Olympics]]
 [[Category:Table tennis players at the 1992 Summer Olympics]]
@@ Line 71: / Line 94: @@
 [[Category:Table tennis players at the 2000 Summer Olympics]]
 [[Category:Table tennis players at the 2004 Summer Olympics]]
-[[Category:Olympic table tennis players of Yugoslavia]]
+[[Category:Olympic table tennis players for Yugoslavia]]
 [[Category:Olympic table tennis players as Independent Olympic Participants]]
-[[Category:Olympic table tennis players of the United States]]
+[[Category:Olympic table tennis players for the United States]]
 [[Category:Olympic silver medalists for Yugoslavia]]
+[[Category:Olympic medalists in table tennis]]
+[[Category:Serbian people of Romanian descent]]
-{{US-sport-bio-stub}}
+[[Category:Serbian emigrants to the United States]]
-{{Yugoslavia-Olympic-medalist-stub}}
+[[Category:Mediterranean Games gold medalists for Yugoslavia]]
-{{Tabletennis-bio-stub}}
+[[Category:Competitors at the 1987 Mediterranean Games]]
+[[Category:Competitors at the 1991 Mediterranean Games]]
-[[de:Ilija Lupulesku]]
+[[Category:Mediterranean Games medalists in table tennis]]
+[[Category:Medalists at the 1988 Summer Olympics]]
+[[Category:Olympic table tennis players for Serbia and Montenegro]]
+[[Category:Serbia and Montenegro sportsmen]]
+[[Category:Naturalised table tennis players]]