Winner
of seven World Championships, including four Singles crowns,
Richard Bergmann was regarded as the
greatest defensive player in table tennis
history.
In 1936, he won his first World title
as a member of the Austrian Swaythling
Cup (Men’s World Championship)
Team. He won his first World Singles
Championship one year later and in
doing so became the youngest player
ever to win that title.
When the Nazis invaded Austria in
1938, Bergmann fled to England. In
1939, he won his second World Singles
crown and the World Doubles title,
pairing with Viktor Barna. Following
World War II, he reclaimed his title in
1948 as World Singles Champion, and
again in 1950. His last World Championship came as a member
of the 1953
English Swaythling Cup Team.
In the mid-1950s, Bergmann became
the world’s first professional
table tennis player and toured extensively
with the Harlem Globetrotters
basketball team. |