Ilija Lupulesku (Serbian Cyrillic: Илија Лупулеску; Romanian: Ilia Lupulescu;[1] born October 30, 1967) is a former Yugoslavian and later American[2] table tennis player who competed at the 1988, 1992, 1996, 2000 and 2004 Summer Olympics.

Despite his love and talent for soccer, Lupulesku, under the watchful eye of first coach Jon Bosika, committed himself to training and by age 14 was the top player on the Yugoslavian Junior National Table Tennis Team.

While Primorac moved on to live and play in Belgium, Lupulesku remained in FR Yugoslavia and joined the military, where he continued to train.

His natural quickness and instincts for the sport combined with unmatched control and a left-handed trickiness have made Lupi one of the world's toughest match-ups and a feared competitor to this day.

While still playing at a world-class level, he is overseeing the training of American phenom Mark Hazinski and has embraced his role as Killerspin's resident mentor.