Shurbek, Dragutin

Dragutin Shurbek was born on August 8, 1946 in Zagreb , the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (now Croatia ).

He achieved his first serious success at the adult international level in 1964, when he joined the main squad of the Yugoslav national team and attended the European Championships in Malmo, Sweden, from where he brought the silver dignity award won in the team category. Four years later, at the European Championship in French Lyon, he won the singles. Thanks to a series of successful performances, he was awarded the right to defend the country's honor at the 1969 World Cup in Munich, where he subsequently became a bronze medalist in team discipline.

In 1970, at the European Championships in Moscow, together with his permanent partner Antun Stipanchich, Shurbek won the gold medal in doubles and silver in the team. The following season, he added to the track record two bronze medals received at the World Championships in Japanese Nagoya, obtained in the individual competition and among the teams. In 1972, he won the silver medal at the European Championship in Rotterdam, then at the home world championship in Sarajevo he received bronze in singles and deuces. He was third in the singles and doubles of the 1974 European Championships in Novi Sad, and second in the doubles and teams in the 1975 World Championships in Calcutta.

At the 1976 European Championship in Prague, Shurbek took bronze among the pairs and gold among the teams. A year later, in the doubles he was awarded a bronze medal at the world championship in Birmingham, England. The next season he took third place in pairs at the European Championships in Duisburg, Germany, later in the same discipline he defeated all rivals at the world championships in Korean Pyongyang, thus becoming the world champion in table tennis. In 1980, at the championship of the continent in Swiss Bern, he won a silver medal paired with Zoran Kalinic . A year later, at the home world championships in Novi Sad three times he climbed the podium, in all three disciplines he received bronze awards.

In 1982, at the European Championship in Budapest, Shurbek won the doubles and took silver in the mixed doubles. At the world championships next season in Tokyo, he won the championship for the second time, again in the men's doubles. At the 1984 European Championships he was a bronze medalist in the standings and mixed doubles, while in pairs he was the best, becoming the five-time European table tennis champion. The last time showed any significant result in the international arena in the 1986 season, when he won bronze medals in doubles and mixed doubles at the European Championship in Prague.

After the separation of Croatia from Yugoslavia in 1992, Dragutin Shurbek returned to big sport to participate in the Summer Olympic Games in Barcelona (at that time he was already 45 years old, he was the oldest participant in the Olympic table tennis tournament). He played in tandem with a new partner Zoran Primorats , but could not get into the number of winners - in their group they took only the second place, losing to the pair from China, which eventually won the Olympics. Soon after the end of these competitions, Shurbek decided to end the career of a professional athlete ^[2] .

He lived in Zagreb, worked as a table tennis coach ^{[3] [4]} .

Died July 15, 2018 ^[5] .

• Dragutin Shurbek - Olympic statistics at Sports-Reference.com
• Povijest saveza ( unopened ) . Croatian Table Tennis Association. Date of treatment January 30, 2012. Archived November 25, 2011.