A Comical Table Tennis Match in the Netherlands, 1979

Table tennis exhibition: Jacques Secrétin vs. Vincent Purkart in the Netherlands in 1979.

Jacques Secrétin (1949–2020), a name that will not be forgotten and that French table tennis will not forget. He was still in his teens when he won his first national singles title in 1966. Another 16 domestic crowns would follow until 1986. During that sequence he claimed a European championship in 1976. A world title came the next year in the mixed doubles with Claude Bergeret.

Secrétin’s renown increased when he and former table tennis champion Vincent Purkart (1936–2015) set up Le Show Secrétin-Purkart. Together they toured the world highlighting the tricks of the table tennis trade until 2007.

“It was a period of life that was exceptional,” Secrétin recalled. “I played in front of 15,000 spectators. It was a real promotion for table tennis.”