Uldis Eglītis (16 December 1950 - 10 February 2020) was a male former international table tennis player from Soviet Union and Latvia. He was a member of the Soviet Union national team that reached the final of the 1968 European Table Tennis Championships in Lyon.
Career Junior career At the age of 14, Eglītis became the Latvian champion in singles and doubles events.
In 1967, Eglītis won three gold medals at the European Youth Championships in Vejle as a member of the Soviet national youth squad, including a singles title. A year later in Leningrad, Eglītis won another gold in the doubles event.
International career After success on the junior level, Eglītis became a regular Soviet Union national team member, participating in the World and European Championships together with Soviet internationals, such as Stanislav Gomozkov, Anatoly Amelin and Sarkis Sarchayan.
Eglītis helped the Soviet team win silver medal at the 1968 European Championships. In the singles event, Eglītis reached the Round of 32 and lost to the Swedish international Hans Alser 1-3. In the mixed doubles event, together with Signe Paisjärv, Eglītis reached Round of 16.
In 1969, he made a debut at the World Championships in Munich. In the singles event, Eglītis was eliminated in Round of 128. He had more success in doubles (with Trevor Taylor) and mixed doubles events (with Doris Hovestädt), reaching Round of 16 in both.
The following year, Eglītis won another major accolade, helping the Soviet team win bronze medal at the 1970 European Championships. In the singles event, he lost to Kjell Johansson in the Round of 32. Eglītis also reached the Round of 16 in doubles event, again being eliminated by Swedish players - Hans Alser and Kjell Johansson.
After 1970, Eglītis was not selected anymore to the Soviet team roster for the participation at the World and European Championships. He continued to play locally, winning his final Latvian title in 1983.
Death Eglītis died on 10 February 2020 at the age of 69.
Accolades Eglītis was one of the most accomplished Latvian table tennis players of all time with 24 gold medals won at the national championships, including 7 singles titles. On the professional circuit, Eglītis won two singles and doubles titles in his career.
He remains the only Latvian table tennis male player to win the medals on the international arena.
See also List of table tennis players
References
External links Uldis Eglītis at Table Tennis Media Uldis Eglītis at Table Tennis Guide