David Zalcberg

(1981 - )

David Zalcberg was born May 4, 1981, in Melbourne, Australia.

In 2003, Zalcberg competed in the World Table Tennis Championships singles event, but could not get past the preliminaries. He made the Australian team in the 2004 World Teams Championships, as Australia finished 37th. In the 2004 Oceania games, David took the gold medal in the doubles event. In the 2004 Commonwealth games, Zalcberg and his Australian teammates won the bronze. His highest international ranking came at the World Teams Championship in 2004, where he placed 37th.

Zalcberg represented Australia in the table tennis doubles event at the 2004 Olympics with compatriot William Henzell. In the first round, the duo was paired up with Massimiliano Mondello and Min Yang of Italy. The match became a veritable roller coaster as the Australians took the first set 11-6, but the Italians bounced back 8-11 in the second. Zalcberg and Henzell won the hotly contested third and fourth sets 11-7, 11-7 before wrapping up the fifth set 11-5. The duo was outgunned by Dutch favorites Danny Heister and Trinko Keen in the second round as they took 4-1 sets. Zalcberg finished 17th overall in the doubles competition.

In 2007, he was ranked Australia’s fourth best male table tennis player. Zalcberg is a graduate of Mount Scopus Memorial College, the first co-educational Jewish day school in Melbourne, and was named Maccabi Australia’s 2007 sportsman of the year.

Zalcberg has been playing doubles since the age of 12 and specializes in doubles play. David lives and trains in Sweden most of the year.

Sources: Jews In Sports; The Forward (August 8, 2008)