The former federal table tennis coach, Yannis Makris, has passed away

Yannis Makris died on Tuesday at the age of 73 in an Athens hospital, where he was being treated. A cultured and educated person, kind, giving and good-natured, for many years he offered important services to Greek table tennis, from whatever position he held, and promoted athletes.

With his knowledge and his exceptional character he gained recognition and appreciation not only from the countless internationals with whom he worked, but from all the people of the sport and made only friends.

In the last two decades he faced a chronic health problem, but he never stopped being involved in his favorite sport and being informed about racing and not only events.

The funeral service will be chanted on Thursday at Prophet Elias in Pagrati and then the body will be taken for burial in the village of the deceased, in the Arkadia Hills, outside Tripoli. The family’s wish is that instead of wreaths, the Association of Friends of Children with Cancer, “Hope”, be strengthened.

The Board of Directors of E.F.O.E.P.A. It is with deep sadness that he says goodbye to the long-time coach of our National Women’s Team and the National Age Teams and sends his deepest condolences to his family.

WHO WAS THE ATHLETE AND COACH YIANNIS MAKRIS

Yannis Makris was born in 1950 in Athens. He was a graduate of the Pantheon School of Public Administration and was an executive of the Ionian Bank for 26 years.

He started playing table tennis at a relatively old age, at the age of 13 specifically at the HAN of Athens, but he was lucky to develop alongside great names in the field, as the club dominated the championships at that time.

He made his first appearance at the Athens Academy of Arts in March 1966 and until its dissolution celebrated two Greek championships (1969, 1970) and a Greek Cup (1970). Also, in the period 1968-1969, he won the bronze medal with his brother, Angelos, in the men’s doubles of the Panhellenic Championship.

In 1970 he moved to Panathinaikos, he stayed for 11 years and, also, as an athlete of a very strong team, he enjoyed success not only in Greece, but also abroad.

At the team level, in his CV with the Panathinaikos shirt, he has won: The title in the A’ National team in the period 1974-1975. The Greek Cup in the period 1973-1974. Five times second in the league and three times third between 1971 and 1980, while he was part of the team that in 1974 achieved great and historic distinction by reaching the semi-finals of the European Cup Winners’ Cup. On an individual level, he had a silver medal in the men’s doubles of the Panhellenic Championship again with his brother, Angelos, in the 1976-1977 season.

Twice he was number 3 in the Greek rating table, while for about 15 years he was a member of the pre-national teams and performed (mainly in individual competitions) a little less than 30 participations in Balkan, Mediterranean and other international competitions. The youngest of the Makris brothers, Ilias, was also a notable athlete and later coach.

From the beginning of the 80s and parallel to the last part of his journey as an athlete, the deceased started to deal with coaching. The first clubs he worked with were Panathinaikos, Galatsi and Paradisos.

He attended all the schools and seminars that took place in Greece, attended educational events abroad and, having experience from the instructions of very notable foreign coaches who worked in our country (Foldi, Gaits, Kubat, Markovic), he starts before the middle in the 80s collaboration with E.F.O.E.P.A., first as a manager in the Western Attica branch (Elefsina-Megara).

Then for about five years he works for the Federation in the child-adolescent teams and helps to highlight young athletes who later became key members of the national men’s and women’s teams.

At the end of the 80s, she takes over the National Women’s Team, with which she has won, among other things, medals in the Balkan and Mediterranean Games, as well as good placements in European and world championships.

In the mid-90s, his last collaboration with the federation was to entrust him, based on his already extensive experience and his observations on the development of the sport, with the part of the Academy with the aim of promoting new athletes and gradual staffing of the National teams.