Judith Yvonne Williams (25 February 1944 – 16 August 2024)[1] was a British international table tennis player from England[2] who also played in the Netherlands. She played in several World Table Tennis Championships and Veterans World Championships and won the English National Table Tennis Championships in 1969.
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Nationality | British (English) |
| Born | 25 February 1944 Colney Heath Hertfordshire, England |
| Died | 16 August 2024 (aged 80) Amsterdam, Netherlands |
Early life
editJudy was born in Colney Heath near St Albans in Hertfordshire, England in 1944. Shortly after World War II her parents Bill and Marjorie bought and began running the Dagmar House Hotel in Hatfield, Hertfordshire. Her father built a pre-fabricated games room in the hotel garden which was just large enough to meet international table tennis standards, and it was there that Judy and her brother Peter, also later an international player, learned to play table tennis. Teams were formed at the hotel and allowed to play in the Welwyn Hatfield league, and Williams won the U15 national girls championship in 1959.[1]
Judy attended St Albans Girls Grammar School and later went to Birmingham University.
Table tennis career
editWilliams made her international debut for England in January 1960 and won the Sussex Championships nine times.[3] She played in her first world championships at the 1963 World Table Tennis Championships,[1] and won the singles title at the Universities' Championship in 1964.[4]
She represented England at the 1969 World Table Tennis Championships in the Corbillon Cup (women's team event) with Karenza Mathews, Jill Shirley and Mary Shannon-Wright.[5][6]
She was also the 1969 English National Table Tennis Championships singles champion.
In 1988 she was runner up in the Over 40s women's singles and doubles events at the World Veterans Championships in Zagreb, and in 2001, won a bronze medal in the Over 50s European Veterans Championships in Denmark.[1]
Personal life
editWilliams worked as a translator for Shell Oil and moved to Amsterdam in the mid-1970s. She married Kemal Çelik in 1981, but they divorced in 1999.
She died at the nursing home Eben Haezer, Wisseloord, Amsterdam.[1]
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ a b c d e "Farewell Speech Funeral Judy Williams". Amsterdam78. Retrieved 12 September 2024.
- ^ "Friday Photos No 9: Six young lady players to identify". Table Tennis Guide.
- ^ "Obituary: National champion and England international Judy Williams". Table Tennis England. Retrieved 25 September 2024.
- ^ "Table tennis". Birmingham Daily Post. 26 February 1964. Retrieved 12 September 2024 – via British Newspaper Archive.
- ^ "Corbillon Cup results". tischtennis-infos.de. Archived from the original on 5 May 2019. Retrieved 13 May 2018.
- ^ "1969 Corbillon Cup results" (PDF). Table Tennis England. Archived from the original (PDF) on 25 September 2020. Retrieved 13 May 2018.