History: Know About Hungary's Past Supremacy at WTTC

As we get closer to the 2019 World Championships, to be held from 21-28 April, in Budapest, Hungary, we decide to recollect briefly the history of Hungary's table tennis achievements at each World Table Tennis Championships.

The depth across the current Hungarian team may not be enough for them to contend for a medal at the 2019 World Table Tennis Championships (sorry to say that, even though the Hungarian enjoy a home advantage) but looking back at the history of table tennis, the Hungarian have definitely left footprints, some significant ones, at the past World Championships since the first edition held in 1926. 

Do the math and you would find it was some 90-ish years ago since the first World Table Tennis Championships. It is a long story but to make things short and still informative and interesting to read, we summarize the story into 3 parts (from a personal perspective, you can always interpret it differently), the hard bat era (1926-1939), post-war era (1947-1957) and the big time (1959-present) (can't think of a better name, any suggestions?). Without further ado, let's dive in and learn about the Hungarian greats in history!

1. The Hard bat Era (1926-1939)
As the heading suggests, athletes during this era mostly played with a hard bat, a wooden blade covered with pimpled rubber and the Hungarians were surely masters of the hard bat. World Championships at the time were heavily dominated by the Hungarian and they never walked away empty-handed from these Championships. They made a clean sweep at the 1926, 1930, 1931 and 1933 edition and excelled in the others. 

Stood out in the women's field was Maria Mednyanszky of Hungary who won 5 women's singles titles in a row and 6 consecutive women's doubles titles partnering Anna Sipos who also owned 2 women's singles title under her belt.

Photo: www.aspctt.com

As for the men, Viktor Barna crowned himself 22 titles, including 5 singles and 7 doubles champion, over 40 medals of different events at World Championships between 1929 to 1954 is arguably the most celebrated table tennis player. He was an all-rounded player with his innovative backhand flick widely recognized a trick well ahead of this era. Footage of the World Championships back in the days is rare, what could be found on Youtube is an exhibition he played against Hungarian player Laszlo Bellak, the 1938 mixed doubles world champion. Does Barna's backhand flick remind you of Koki Niwa's 'ballroom backhand'?

Fun fluff: Written in an old article "Laszlo Bellak held a unique record for being more times in final events than anyone else without having won a title", it was not until 1938, he and Wendy Woodhead of England, the underdogs of the mixed doubles field, clinched gold and broke away from the label. Anything is possible in table tennis!

1938 Mixed Doubles World Champion, Laszlo Bellak of Hungary (left) and Wendy Woodhead of England (right) 
Captured from magazine "Table Tennis" 1938 March issue

2. The Post-War Era (1947-1957)
World Championships were not held between 1940 to 1946 due to World War Two. The war was over leading up to the 1947 World Championships but the world of table tennis was still not free from concerns. Other than the missing Corbillon Cup (last held by the German after winning it in 1939) during war years, people worried the quality of play could not match the pre-war standard, some complained the skyrocketed cost and poor condition of equipment due to a lack of resources after the war and, most of all, the board chop-defense technique was producing more and more insanely long but boring matches which could have hindered the development of table tennis. However, no one at the time would have imagined table tennis in the next 10 years would undergo a seismic shift because of the introduction of the sponge racket.

Despite all the gloom and doom at the beginning of the era, the master of the hard bat, the Hungarians, continued to lead the sport until the changes and challenges hit. Gizella Farkas, some called her Gizi, made her third straight win in the women's singles in 1949. She also crowned herself 3 women's doubles and 4 doubles champion between 1947 to 1954. One might compliment her on her consistent defense while the others might condemn her stonewalling tactics. Well, it's just a matter of viewpoint!

World Champion Gizi Farkas going for a chop-defense
Captured from magazine 'Table Tennis' 1948 April

While people were sick of the boring pushing games, the revolutionary change quietly crept in. It was reported that Waldemar Fritsch of Austria was the first athlete to use a sponge racket at the 1951 World Championships but Japanese player Hiroji Satoh was the man who truly made a noise, not quite the noise cos sound's gone when you hit the ball with a sponge racket (bad joke), by winning the men's singles title using a sponge racket in 1952 World Championships in Bombay, India. The application of sponge racket had drastically change the sport (spinier, faster, quieter...) and the top hard bat players did not enjoy the edge they used to have. In 1953, Ferenc Sido of Hungary became the last hard bat player to win the men's singles world champion.

Cartoon figures of two Hungarian players Gizella Farkas (left) and Ferenc Sido (right)
Captured from magazine 'Table Tennis' 1948 April issue

Sideline: The Japanese emerged at the time of change in 1952 and made a huge success in 1956 when Tokyo first hosted the World Table Tennis Championships. This coincidentally shares a common denominator with the present context where the young and agile Japanese team rises when the world switches from celluloid ball to plastic ball. With 2020 Tokyo ahead I wonder will the Japanese repeat the path of their glorious past? Tell us in the common below if you want an article about this.

World Champions of Japan celebrate their World Championships success on home ground
Captured from magazine 'Table Tennis' 1956 May issue

3. The Big Time (1959-present)
It is no longer the era of European dominance, nor does a particular style dominate the next 60-ish years. While naming it the modern era seems inappropriate either as I have seen numerous of 'modern times' when I searched through those old articles. So let's call it the big time since table tennis has gone world-wide and different playing styles and techniques have flourished throughout the years. Hoping table tennis will hit the big time, let's go with this name.

Achievements of the Hungarians in this period might not match those in the previous ones. After all, competitions are much more intense when more nations join the Championships. However, the Hungarians managed to top the podium on several occasions, with Istvan Jonyer winning men's doubles partnering Tibor Klampar in 1971, winning his second men's doubles title with Gabor Gergely and a men's singles title in 1975.

Captured from magazine 'Table Tennis' 1975 February / March issue

The most recent world champion owned by the Hungarian was the men's team champion led by Istvan Jonyer alongside Gabor Gergely, Tibor Klampa and Tibor Kreisz in 1979 when they defeated China. Years later in 1995, Csilla Batorfi and Krisztina Toth won bronze in women's doubles and is the latest entry of the world medal collection for Hungary prior to 2019 WTTC.

Let's have a flashback to the champion moment for Hungary in 1979!

Timeline
Opting for a less word but more comprehensive overview of the history? Have a look at the timeline (made after some painstaking research) which lists all the big names of Hungary who have made to the top step of the podium at the World Championships.

The Numbers
Would it surprise you to know that the overall number of World Championships medals the Hungarian have exceeds that of Japan? China leads the chart possessing a total of 395 medals, Hungary trails behind with 202 medals and Japan placed third with their record reads 154 medals. This is just how dominant the Hungarian have been.

About WTTC

The World Table Tennis Championships (WTTC) was first held in 1926 at Memorial Hall, Farringdon Street, London consisting of 5 events, men's and women's singles, men's doubles, mixed doubles and men's team (whereas the women's doubles was then introduced in 1928 and women's team in 1934). In order to create the best scenario to bring the best athletes of all region, the Championships was held biennially since 1957. The World Team Table Tennis Championships was introduced in 2000 and since 2003, the team Championships and Individual Event Championships are held in alternate years. The 2019 WTTC is an individual event Championships where 5 events (men's and women's singles, doubles and mixed doubles) are played. The number of participants has reached a historical high as there will be 102 associations and 564 athletes attending the Championships in Budapest this year.

Author's Note:
As a table tennis enthusiast and a social science graduate who loves to discover interesting stories from old documents, it is an interesting and enjoyable experience to dig deep into the history of table tennis. Getting to know about the big names and learning the evolution of the sport is awesome. Throughout the research process, I came across some interesting topics or issues that may be in some way relate to the present context and perhaps can be developed into a series.

Yet from my observation, the short update posts (such as XX results updates) are the most popular ones in this blog while the research-intensive compilations have the least view rates. So, may I ask you to do me a favour, comment below and let me know what kind of articles do you prefer? For example these original posts or the short and clear results updates posts. 

Share, subscribe and leave comments and make a say on the direction of this blog. Another light-hearted post from the 'History' series will be published tomorrow. Stay tuned and show your support in the comment section, they mean a lot and I always take them seriously! Thank you!