Ilija Lupulesku

Ilija Lupulesku
Ilija Lupulesku
Personal information
Full name	Ilija Lupulesku
Nationality	Yugoslavia  Yugoslavia  United States
Born	(1967-10-30) 30 October 1967 (age 56) Zrenjanin, SR Serbia, SFR Yugoslavia
Height	5 ft 11 in (180 cm)
Table tennis career
Playing style	Left-handed
Medal record Men's table tennis Representing / Yugoslavia Olympic Games 1988 Seoul Doubles World Championships 1987 New Delhi Doubles 1991 Chiba City Team World Cup 1990 Seoul Doubles European Championships 1988 Paris Mixed Doubles 1990 Gothenburg Doubles 1998 Eindhoven Mixed Doubles 1986 Prague Mixed Doubles 1988 Paris Doubles 1998 Eindhoven Doubles 2000 Bremen Doubles 2000 Bremen Mixed Doubles 1986 Prague Doubles 1992 Stuttgart Doubles Mediterranean Games 1987 Latakia Doubles 1987 Latakia Mixed Doubles 1991 Athens Doubles 1987 Latakia Singles

Ilija Lupulesku (Serbian Cyrillic: Илија Лупулеску; Romanian: Ilia Lupulescu;^[1] born October 30, 1967) is a former Yugoslavian and later American^[2] table tennis player who competed at the 1988, 1992, 1996, 2000 and 2004 Summer Olympics. He became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 2002^[2] and competed for the United States from 2004 to 2006. Ilija Lupulesku played his first game of table tennis at age nine in his small hometown of Uzdin, Yugoslavia. After seeing other children playing at his local school, he picked up a paddle and began what would become his life's ambition. Despite his love and talent for soccer, Lupulesku, under the watchful eye of first coach Jon Bosika, committed himself to training and by age 14 was the top player on the Yugoslavian Junior National Table Tennis Team. Over the next 12 years, he would rise through the ranks of the world's best players and become one of the largest sport celebrities in his native Yugoslavia.^[3]