David Zalcberg

David Zalcberg ([zaltsberg]?) (born May 4, 1981, Melbourne, Victoria) is a left-handed Australian table tennis player.

Table tennis career

Zalcberg bega playing table tennis at the age of 12, and specializes in doubles play. In 1997, he represented Australia at the 1997 Maccabiah Games in Israel. He was part of the Australian delegation that was involved in the tragic bridge collapse during the opening ceremony of the games.

In 2003, Zalcberg competed in the World Table Tennis Championships singles event, but did not get past the preliminaries.

He made the Australian team in the 2004 World Teams Championships, as Australia finished 37th.

Career highlights

International

• Athens Olympics - Round of 32 Men's doubles. Zalcberg represented Australia in the table tennis doubles event at the 2004 Olympics with compatriot William Henzell. In the first round, the duo was paired up against Italy. The match became a roller coaster as the Australians took the first set 11-6, but the Italians bounced back 8-11 in the second. Zalcberg and Henzell won the third and fourth sets 11-7, 11-7, before wrapping up the fifth set 11-5. They were defeated in the second round by Dutch favorites Danny Heister and Trinko Keen.
• Gold Medal, Oceania Games, Men's Doubles, 2004
• Bronze Medal, Commonwealth Games, Team event, 2004
• 2006 Commonwealth Games, in despite battling injury throughout the tournament beat a highly-fancied Singaporean opponent.
• Silver Medal, Finland Open, Team event, 2005

National

• Australian Under 20 Singles & Doubles Champion 2001
• Australian Men's Doubles Champion 2005

Highest rankings

• National: 4th Singles 2004. 1st Doubles 2005.
• International: World Teams Championships 2004 - ranked 37th

Awards

Zalcberg was named Maccabi Australia sportsman of the year in March 2007.

References

• Goldberg, Dan "Maccabiah bridge collapse survivor". Jewish Telegraph Agency, Retrieved on 2008-08-13.

Footnotes

External links

• Table Tennis Australia
• Jewish Virtual Library bio
• "Zalcberg Named Sportsman of the Year," 3/15/07

See also

• Australia at the 2006 Commonwealth Games
• Table tennis at the 2004 Summer Olympics - Men's doubles
• Mount Scopus Memorial College