Jacques Secrétin, the most successful French table tennis player, died on the night of Tuesday to Wednesday at the age of 71. ” The FFTT (the French Federation) is very sad to announce the disappearance of Jacques Secrétin », Wrote the instance on his Twitter account. She greeted ” the incredible prize list From the French champion.
Secrétin had experienced exceptional longevity in the French team, from 1962 to 1986. He was only 13 years old when he was first selected. In 1976, Jacques Secrétin was crowned European champion in singles against the Soviet Anatoly Strokatov. He was also a gold medalist in doubles in 1980, associated with Patrick Birocheau, then in mixed doubles and team in 1984.
At the 1977 World Championships, Secrétin won gold in mixed doubles, with Claude Bergeret. It was the first time the French team had won a world title, 16 years before the individual victory of Jean-Philippe Gatien. At the French Championships, Jacques Secrétin was titled 61 times.
A show to popularize table tennis
He had also helped popularize table tennis, by creating a show full of jokes with Vincent Purkart, another French champion, who died in 2019 at the age of 79. The success was such that the two table tennis players accumulated more than 4000 performances around the world.
Even after the end of his high-level career Jacques Secrétin continued to hit the ball, especially with young people and prisoners. He should also have participated in the next veteran Worlds, scheduled for spring 2021.
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