The Slovak Table Tennis Conference was held in Bratislava on May 7 2024. It was attended by 46 delegates (83.6 percent participation) and 12 guests. The President of the Slovak Table Tennis Association (STTA) Anton HAMRAN assessed the past year as very successful when the Slovakian women’s team achieved the best result in the modern history of independent Slovakia. At the European Championships in Malmö the Slovak team took an unexpected 5th place and at the first world championship of mixed teams in Cheng doo Slovakia finished in an excellent 8th place. He emphasized that in addition to strong support for adult and youth representative teams and top athletes (they used 25 percent of the budget) the union also supported the activities of 120 clubs in the amount of 265 755 euros – the amount was intended for players under 23 years of age (an average of 105 euros per player). Overall table tennis in Slovakia has long been among the top ten sports and in terms of the number of clubs (more than 600) it is second only to football.
STTA is already preparing for the celebration of the 100th anniversary of organized table tennis in Slovakia which will be commemorated during the European Under-21 Championships in May in Bratislava. The second part of the celebrations will be held in the autumn together with the Czech Table Tennis Association in Prague as the Czechoslovak Table Tennis Association was originally founded in 1925.
The delegates unanimously approved the entry of two important personalities into the Hall of Fame of Slovak table tennis:
Zdenko KRÍŽ (73 years old) long-time leading sports diplomat and official who led Czechoslovak and Slovak table tennis as its president for a record 38 years (1983 – 2021). He was also a member of the ITTF Board of Directors (2003-2021) and chairman of the ETTU Veterans Commission (1999-2024) today he is a member of the SCI executive. He is also Honorary Chairman of STTA and Honorary Member of ITTF.
Jaromír TRUKSA (53 years old) was the best Slovak player at the turn of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. He won the first historic medal for Slovakia from the European Championships in 1994 in Birmingham where he won bronze together with Valentína Popová in the mixed doubles. He was a successful youth coach for many years coach of the Slovak men’s national team and currently works as a coach of the Slovak women’s team.
