he had to play against the world champion Zhuang Zedong. He later confessed that his knees could not hold him, but nevertheless he scored some very good points, which brought him compliments from the Chinese champion. He tapped Tova on the shoulder and they were photographed together, despite the lopsided result (8:21, 11:21, 14:21). After a passage of only five years, at the very same Tivoli hall, Stipančić would now be the champion, thoroughly defeating the legendary Chuang Tse Tung. In 1965, at the age of 16, was no longer a youngster — he grew a few centimeters and became stronger for a few points. At the Open Championships of Poland in Krakow he won his first important international match — in the second round he defeated the European champion Swede Kjell Johanson 24:22 in the fifth set, winning Johanson's two match balls. And as Antun Stipančić firmly stepped forward onto the world table tennis scene, the highest world authorities agreed that he would have a brilliant career. In 1966 Tova was a member of the national team to the European Championships in Wembley. That year he won two medals on The Youth European Championships in Szombathely — gold, playing mixed doubles with Mirjana Resler and silver, playing doubles with Zlatko Čordaš. At that point, Tova devoted all his attention to studying and graduating from Textile High School. He succeeded and then felt free to turn all his effort to sport and the excitement that sport brings. He played with a great deal of enthusiasm at the 1968 Championat de Europe at Lyon Sport Hall. He was very good in team events and still better in a completely unplanned double. The Association at the time made a new combination Korpa - Šurbek which was triumphant in Europe, while Tova, they decided, should play with Edvard Vecko, although they never trained or played before. Tova recalled, "...unburdened, without high pretensions we played you can say for our pleasure. In the final "round" we played against Swedish experts Johanson and Alser who did not lose a single match in two last world championships. We played the whole match offensively, well, firmly. The result went like this, 21:17, 20:22, 22:20 and 21:14! A big applause from the objective spectators in Palais des Sportes was a great reward. What an unforgettable reception at the Pleso airport and again in Duga Resa! I had to