Kalinikos Kreanga is a Greek

Greece

Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....

 (formerly Romanian) table tennis

Table tennis

Table tennis, also known as ping-pong, is a sport in which two or four players hit a lightweight, hollow ball back and forth using table tennis rackets. The game takes place on a hard table divided by a net...

 player. Born as Călin Creangă, he chose to defect from Communist-ruled Romania

Communist Romania

Communist Romania was the period in Romanian history when that country was a Soviet-aligned communist state in the Eastern Bloc, with the dominant role of Romanian Communist Party enshrined in its successive constitutions...

 at the age of 17 (with his father) while he was participating in the European Table Tennis Youth Championships

Table Tennis European Youth Championships

The Table Tennis European Youth Championships were first held in 1955 in Stuttgart. The tournament has been held yearly . The tournament included several competitions during its history...

 in Luxembourg

Luxembourg

Luxembourg , officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg , is a landlocked country in western Europe, bordered by Belgium, France, and Germany. It has two principal regions: the Oesling in the North as part of the Ardennes massif, and the Gutland in the south...

 in 1989.

Born in Bistriţa

Bistrita

Bistrița is the capital city of Bistriţa-Năsăud County, Transylvania, Romania. It is situated on the Bistriţa River. The city has a population of approximately 80,000 inhabitants, and it administers six villages: Ghinda, Sărata, Sigmir, Slătiniţa, Unirea and Viişoara.-History:The earliest sign of...

, Romania

Romania

Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...

, Kreanga started to play table tennis at the age of 7. His first coach was Gheorghe Bozga, who would later discover Mihaela Steff.

While in Luxembourg, he received an offer to play in Greece, so he decided to move there. Being a minor, he quickly acquired Greek citizenship, and changed his name to Kalinikos Kreanga.

He has been one of the dominant European table tennis players since the beginning of the 1990s, and uses the shakehand style to hold the racket. His favorite attack weapons seem to be the topspin

Topspin

In ball sports, topspin is a property of a ball that rotates as if rolling in the same direction as it is moving. Topspin on a shot imparts a downward force that causes the ball to drop, due to its interaction with the air . It can be generated by hitting the ball with an up-and-forward swing, with...

 forehand loop and a strong backhand shot. His backhand topspin shot is one of the most devastating in the world with unique technique.

Team history

• A.C. Zografou (Greece) (until 1995)
• Finower TTC (1995/96; 2. Bundesliga, Germany
  Germany
  Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
  
  )
• Royal Villette Charleroi, (Belgium
  Belgium
  Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...
  
  ), since 1996)
• TTC Weinheim (2.BL, Germany)
• TTF Ochsenhausen (Germany)
• Montpellier TT (France
  France
  The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
  
  )
• Hennebont (France)

Results

Bronze medal in the mixed doubles competition at the World Championships

World Table Tennis Championships

The World Table Tennis Championships are held since 1926, biennially since 1957. Seven events were included in the Championships. The World Team Table Tennis Championships, which include men's team and women's team events, were first their own competition in 2000. The Team Championships are held in...

, Chiba City

Chiba, Chiba

is the capital city of Chiba Prefecture, Japan. It is located approximately 40 km east of the center of Tokyo on Tokyo Bay. Chiba City became a government designated city in 1992. Its population as of 2008 is approximately 960,000....

, 1991.

Winner of the European Championships

Table Tennis European Championships

The European Table Tennis Championships were first held in 1958. Between 1958 and 2002, the European Championships were held every two years in the even years. From 2003 they were held in odd years. Since 2008 the tournament has been held annually...

 in mixed doubles (1992) and men's doubles (1994).
Runner-up in men's singles (2002).

Bronze medal in the singles competition at the World Championships, Paris

Paris

Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...

, 2003.

Runner-up at the Men's World Cup

Table Tennis World Cup

The Table Tennis World Cup has been held annually since 1980. There had been only men's singles until the inauguration of women's singles in 1996 and team competitions in 1990. The team competitions, the World Team Cup, were canceled until the relaunch in 2007, and now held in odd-numbered years...

 in 2003 and 2004.

Winner of the Europe Top-12

Europe Top-12

The Europe Top-12 is an European table tennis tournament organized by the European Table Tennis Union on a yearly basis between the twelve strongest players in Europe. The tournament was first held in 1971 for both the men's and women's competition, adopting a single round-robin format...

, 2011.