Werner Schlager is a former world champion 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 from Austria

Austria

Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...

.

Career

Schlager began playing table tennis when he was six years old, learning from his father and brother who were also top Austrian players, making them ideal training partners. After placing top in numerous singles and doubles tournaments, he won the 2003 Singles World Championship held in Paris beating South Korea

South Korea

The Republic of Korea , , is a sovereign state in East Asia, located on the southern portion of the Korean Peninsula. It is neighbored by the People's Republic of China to the west, Japan to the east, North Korea to the north, and the East China Sea and Republic of China to the south...

n Joo Se-Hyuk in the finals to clinch the top spot.

He is therefore the first Austrian since Richard Bergmann

Richard Bergmann

Richard Bergmann was an Austrian and British table tennis player. Winner of seven World Championships, including four Singles, one Men's Doubles, two Team's titles and 22 medals in total.-Tennis career:...

 in 1937 to win the World Championship Singles. That year, he was voted Austrian Sportsman of the Year and selected in China as "The most popular foreign sportsman".



In 2009, Schlager founded the Werner Schlager Academy in Schwechat

Schwechat

Schwechat is a city south-east of Vienna known for the Vienna International Airport and Schwechater beer. It is also home to the refineries belonging to the Austrian national oil company OMV.- Geography :...

 close to Vienna

Vienna

Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...

, a training centre which is also home to clubs SVS Niederösterreich and SVS Ströck.

Tournament history and credentials

Singles (as of August 25, 2010)

• Olympics
  Table tennis at the Summer Olympics
  Table tennis competition has been in the Summer Olympic Games since 1988, with singles and doubles events for both men and women. Athletes from China have dominated the sport, winning a total of 41 medals in 24 events, including 20 gold medals.-Events:...
  
  : QF (2000).
• 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...
  
  : winner (2003); SF (1999).
• 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...
  
   appearances: 10. Record: runner-up (1999).
• Pro Tour
  ITTF Pro Tour
  The ITTF Pro Tour is a series of table tennis tournaments introduced by International Table Tennis Federation in 1996, in order to improve the quality of the sport. It includes 6 events: Men's and Women's Singles, Men's and Women's Doubles, and Men's and Women's Singles Under 21...
  
   winner (×4): 1996 Austrian Open; 2002 Brazil, Korea Open; 2004 Croatian Open.
  Runner-up (×7): 1999 Croatian Open; 2000 Danish Open; 2001 German Open; 2002 Polish Open; 2004 Egypt, Brazil Open; 2005 Croatian Open.
• Pro Tour Grand Finals
  ITTF Pro Tour Grand Finals
  The ITTF Pro Tour Grand Finals is an annual table tennis tournament sanctioned by International Table Tennis Federation at the end of the year. The tournament includes six events: men's and women's singles, men's and women's doubles, U21 men's and women's singles...
  
   appearances: 11. Record: SF (1999).
• 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...
  
  : runner-up (2009); SF (2002, 08).
• 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...
  
  : 1st (2000, 08); 2nd (2004, 06); 3rd (2003).

Men's Doubles

• Olympics: QF (2000).
• World Championships: QF (1997, 99, 2003).
• Pro Tour winner (×11): 1996 English, USA, Australia Open; 1997 Polish Open; 1998 Croatian Open; 1999 Australia, Czech Open; 2000 Danish Open; 2001 Brazil Open; 2002 Brazil Open; 2005 Russian Open; 2006 German Open.
  Runner-up (×7): 1997 Australia Open; 1999 Brazil Open; 2000 Polish Open; 2003 Qatar, German Open; 2004 Croatian, Egypt Open.
• Pro Tour Grand Finals appearances: 10. Record: SF (1999).
• European Championships: winner (2005); runner-up (2008); SF (1998, 2000, 03, 07).

Mixed Doubles

• World Championships: QF (2005).
• European Championships: winner (2003); SF (2002, 05).

Team

• Olympics: 4th (2008).
• World Championships: 5th (2001).
• World Team 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...
  
  : 3rd (2007).
• European Championships: 2nd (2005).

Honours and awards

• 2000 Decoration of Merit in Gold of the Republic of Austria
• 2003 Decoration of Honour in Gold of the Republic of Austria
• 2003 Austrian Sportspersonality of the year
  Austrian Sportspersonality of the year
  The Austrian Sports Personality of the Year is chosen annually since 1949. Recordholders are Annemarie Moser-Pröll and Hermann Maier . In 1978 and 1979 the Austrian national football team was named Austrian Sports Team of the Year...
  
  
• 2003 55-cent stamp issued bearing the image of Schlager