Christian IBENFELDT will be a busy man during the European Veterans Championships in Sandefjord this week. As host of the tournament he will hold receptions and meetings from morning to night and welcome international leaders such as the ITTF President Petra SORLING and the Acting ETTU President Pedro Miguel MOURA.
The Norwegian Table Tennis President is eager to show European table tennis players leaders and fans the best Norwegian TTA has to offer. He has worked very hard to bring about a tournament of high quality with corresponding social events.
Saying that the Norwegian TT President is still a very good table tennis player so good in fact that he is the favourite to win the men’s doubles 45 years with Turkish friend Murat ERIS. Earlier this year at the Veterans World Championships in Oman the pair made it to the finals. IBENFELDT also has a silver medal from the European Veterans Championships in the Swedish town of Helsingborg in 2017 with former teammate Eric DURAND from France. Nothing would be sweeter for the hard-working left-handed player than to conclude with a gold medal when he finally has the chance to play a championship on home ground.
IBENFELDT started his career in his hometown of Bergen which was the stronghold of Norwegian table tennis for decades. After many podium finishes in the National Youth Championship he made it to the national team and moved to Montpellier France to take the next step of his table tennis career. In Montpellier he teamd up with the aforementioned DURAND and also the father to the now famous LEBRUN-brothers.
Back in Norway he got more involved in the administrative side of table tennis and in 2017 he was elected President of the Norwegian Table Tennis Association a position he has been reelected to twice without opposition. The President still plays and became National Champion in doubles just a few years ago. This season with his Norwegian club Laksevåg he won the Stiga League (first tier) in Norway for the ninth time.
