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John Hilton (table tennis)

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John Hilton is a retired table tennis player who sensationally won the 1980 European Table Tennis championship in Switzerland at odds of over 1000-1. His use of a revolutionary combination bat, with different rubbers on either side, completely bamboozled his opponents, coupled with his defensive play, and led to one of sport's greatest upsets.

Ultimately, the table tennis authorities had to change the rules because of Hilton, so that either side of a bat had different coloured rubbers. This gave the opposing player the chance to spot which rubber his opponent was using. Hilton used a bat which had black rubber (one side antiloop the other side very spinny) on both sides, meaning that opponents generally had no clue which rubber he was using when he 'twiddled'

Hilton still plays table tennis, has won many Veteran titles today and is arguably the greatest British table-tennis player ever.