The 100-year-old Kaptarenko prepares with three practice sessions a week
In the World Veteran Championships (WVC) all players are special.
Kaptarenko Alexandra is one of the 3200 players taking part in the Stockholm
adventure at the end of June. But Kaptarenko Alexandra is somewhat extra
special, because on the 27th of January he celebrated his 100th
birthday.
The WVC organization will in this way congratulate the athlete from
Russian Novosibirsk. The town with 1,5 million inhabitants, the town where the
temperature can reach minus 51,1 centigrade, a temperature that has been
registered in the third biggest town in Russia, the biggest one in Siberia.
Kaptarenko Alexandra was born in St Petersburg in 1912. His profession
brought him later to Novosibirsk where he in his early forties together with
some other enthusiasts contributed to the development of table tennis. And some
years later, in 1956, he was the driving force in the organization committee
for the first table tennis tournament in the town.
As secretary and as president, later with responsibility for the umpires,
in the regional association in Novosibirsk he was the force behind the
development of the sport. He was swinging the president’s mallet for almost ten
years. Almost 40 years ago he was promoted in his umpire position and has since
then umpired in tournaments at all levels from the local level up to national
championships and in more than 70 different towns in this country.
The energy and the interest in the sport have been there all the time.
He still has a finger in the pie for those who are in the veteran age group; as
a player and as an important cog in the organization. He has placed himself
quite high up in national tournaments and when the European Championships were
played in Liberec in 2011 he was of course one of the participants.
Now it is about the World Veteran Championships in Stockholm. And the
100-year-old Kaptarenko prepares himself in the very best way. Three times a week,
a practice dose telling us that he takes the Championships in Stockholm seriously.
We salute the 100-year-old-Russian. And heartily welcome to Stockholm.
