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1st World Championships - LONDON 1926
(from TT Collector magazine No. 33, winter 2003)
One of the most important landmarks in the history of our great sport took place at the end of 1926, when the first World Championships were held in London. As part of the London Table Tennis Congress, the various competitions were originally styled as "European Championships". By decision of the International Table Tennis Federation at its meeting on 7 December 1926, the competitions were subsequently renamed the World Championships. We are indebted to Günther Angenendt and Ken Mühr for providing photocopies of the programme of this event. It was played 6-13 December 1926 in London (England) at Memorial Hall, Farringdon Street, with Swaythling Cup matches also held at the Indian Students Hostel, Gower Street; Unity House, Euston Road; and Herga LTC, Harrow.

Referee: Mr. Ivor Montagu (ENG) <>A men's consolation competition was also played. As per the rules, all but four seeded players from each country could participate. The competition was won by Munio Pillinger of Austria, against players who were mostly not in the team competition (Swaythling Cup), by winning all his matches 2-0. Pillinger was not only a regular member of the team that made it to the Swaythling Cup playoffs, beating later winners Hungary along the way, but also reached the semifinals of the men's singles by himself!

WJ Pope, one of the tournament committee members along with Ivor Montague and Percy Warden, on the action in the Memorial Hall: "The Memorial Hall holds less than 1,000 spectators, but we took up the whole space in the middle with four tables. Around the walls there were two rows of chairs, but they were never overcrowded. I remember at the final match we removed three tables and appealed to the spectators to bring chairs around one table. We used part of the gallery as a dressing room! There were so few people interested then that we did not issue any tickets, no posters, no press releases, the income was meager and we were lucky to have an underwriter who took the loss."

Notes on players from the original program:
AUSTRIA:

  • Paul Flussmann is the strongest Austrian player. Last year he beat Mechlovitz in the championship of Lower Austria. He is a member of the Maccabean Sports Association.
  • Eduard Freudenheim is a young player, a former champion of Austria, who did well in an international tournament in Berlin last January. Back then he used a curious grip, holding the racket at the extreme end of the handle, yet playing very fast. He is a member of the Vienna Athletic Club.
  • Mrs. Wildam was the champion of Austria four times and the champion of Hungary once. She was never defeated. She is a member of the Austrian Gaming Association.
    Austrian players are used to playing doubles.

    CZECHOSLOVAKIA:

  • Zdeněk Heydušek is 28 years old, engineer by profession. He is the master of Bohemia and Prague.
  • Antonín Maleček is 18 years old. He is an excellent stable defender and a member of the Imperial Pingpong Club Prague.
  • Miloš Bondy is a famous aircraft manufacturer (Avia).
  • Mrs. Riegrová , wife of Dr. Riegr (vice-president of the Czech-Slovak TTA), is a member of the Social Ping-Pong Club, a well-known grass tennis player and one of the most effective Czech defensive players.

    DENMARK:

  • August Joergensen was champion of Denmark in 1923-4 and 1925-6. He is an excellent strongest Danish player and always plays a fast attacking game.

    ENGLAND:

  • Percival Bromfield was born in Beckenham in 1886. He is a clothier. He won the Championship of England for the first time in 1903-4. He was a semi-finalist in 1921–2, losing to the winner Donaldson. In 1923-4 he lost to Nanda in the semi-finals of the Middlesex Championship (Herga) and in the final of the London Championship (Indian Students Hostel). In 1923-4 he won the English championship for the second time. He played for England against Wales in 1922-3, 1923-4, 1924-5 and 1925-6. He invented the flick-stroke, the basis of the modern attacking game. He is vivacious, a master of topspin and uses a rubber racket.
  • C.W. Allwright was born in 1902. He is a versatile sportsman, last year he played center forward for London Railways against Paris Railways and for the London and Southern Counties Cricket Conference against MCC He won the London League Championship in 1922-3. In 1923-4 he came second to Nanda in the English Championship. In 1925-6 he won the newly introduced London Department Store Championship. He played for England against Wales in 1924-5 and 1925-6. He is a versatile player who uses his head; he is patient and his positional play is extremely good. He plays in glasses and uses a rubber racket.
  • James Thompsonwas born in Bristol in 1889. He was a runner-up in the West of England Championship in 1907-8 and won it in 1908-9. He played for England against Wales in 1923-4. In 1923 he won the Daily Mirror British Championship, a national competition in which every major player in the country entered, but it must not be forgotten that Bromfield, Carris, Cohen and Donaldson were five points ahead of him. He is a straightforward attacking player, a good fighter and uses a rubber racket.
  • Bernard Bernstein was born in Kensington in 1899. He is a good pool player. In 1923-4 he was Allwright's opponent in the West London Championship final. In 1925–6 he won the London Championship (the only tournament in which Suppiah was beaten that year). She uses a wooden racket and each ball is played as a half-volley; unchanging game but impregnable defense.
  • F.J. Burles is a Londoner, born in 1902. He is a civil servant. In 1925-6 he lost to Suppiah in the semi-finals of the Kent (Bromley) Championship and won the Civil Service Championship the same year. He has a beautiful style, can play every shot in the game, but lacks experience.
  • Other men's players worth mentioning include Lionel Farris, a forward who can beat anyone when he plays his game; lost to Suppiah in 1925-6 England Championship final; he is young and always has three or four emergency rockets ready for every game.
  • C.J. Ax is the Bristol Champion.
  • F.S.B. Lawes, Master of Birmingham. W. Hewitt and D.L. Hookins are well-known players from the North.
  • W.J. Pope is president of the London League and captain of the TTA team which went to Berlin in January.
  • Ivor Montagu is president of the English TTA In 1922-3 and 1923-4 he played for Cambridge against Oxford. He now uses a racquet with a surface of flexible aerated rubber that is stretched like gut strings.
  • C.G. Mase is a stylish player.
  • W.C. Peters played for Oxford against Cambridge in 1922-3 and 1923-4.
  • P.E. Warden is the GOM of Table Tennis England; he has won a number of competitions in the past and as a civil servant recently won the civil service championship. He patiently returns everything with a soft surface racket, often returning from seemingly impossible positions.
  • Miss K.A. Berrytook part in open competitions for the first time in the 1921-2 season. She won the Harrods competition, lost to Mrs G. McCosh in the final of the Selfridges competition and was beaten by Mrs Scott, the winner, in the English Championship. At the time, she used a penholder grip, but abandoned it and switched to a rubber racket and backhand grip for lawn tennis, which her brother, a stylish player, used. A change of grip and training at St Bride's with Bromfield, Cohen and Warden changed her game from defensive to attacking. In 1922-3, when she was fifteen, she won the England Championship and the Daily Mirror British Championship (both Miss Berry and Mrs Scott came 5th in the latter). Miss Berry's other victories included the Middlesex Championship in 1924-5 and 1925-6, the London League Championship in 1924-5 and 1925-6 and the England Championship in 1923-4 and 1924-3 (in 1925-6 did not participate). Unbeaten since 1921-2.
  • Mrs. G. McCosh (St. Brides) inflicted Miss Berry her first defeat, but in return she has had to suffer very frequent defeats since.
  • Miss Land (Herga) won one match out of four against Miss Berry in last year's London League Championship. The only open tournament in England where doubles had been played since the war was the Kent Championship in 1925-6. There the doubles was won by HA Bennett and L. Farris and the mixed by RH Berry and Miss Berry, who defeated Mr and Mrs Bromfield in the final.

    GERMANY:

  • Dr. Lehmann, president of the German TTA, lawyer, 39 years old. He has been playing table tennis for 25 years and held the German title from 1904 to 1907. He is an enthusiastic lawn tennis player and has won over 150 prizes.
  • HG Lindenstaedt is 22 years old and has only been playing for three or four years. He won the Berlin championship in 1923-4, 1924-5 and 1925-6. His game is defensive and very stable. He is a famous lawn tennis player.
  • Gerstmann is less than 20 years old. He is a very fast attacking player but lacks experience.
  • Daniel Prenn is 20 years old and is naturally an experienced ball game player. His game is variable, sometimes fast, sometimes balanced, but it is mainly defensive. Last year he was included in the highest class of German tennis players on grass.

    HUNGARY: Hungary is very experienced in doubles. Last January, the Hungarian team beat Germany and also the English team in Berlin.

  • Dr. Jacobi is a lawyer, a former champion.
  • Dr. Pecsi was born in 1895 and won tournaments in Hungary and Germany.
  • Zoltan Mechlowitsis the winner of the following national championships: -Austria: Czech-Slovakia: - in singles 1925-6; in doubles 1925-6; - in doubles 1925-6; - in doubles 1925-6; - in doubles 1925-6: 1925-6; doubles 1925-6; mixed 1925-6; Germany: Singles 1924-5, 1925-6; doubles 1925-6: Hungary: Singles, 1925-6; Germany: 1910-11, 1924-5; 1925-6; doubles, 1909-10, 1910-11, 1924-5, 1925-6; mixed, 1925-6.
  • Bela von Kehrling is a Davis Cup lawn tennis player. Hungarian players use wooden rackets and Mechlowits use a penholder grip.
    All Hungarians play solid, smart games, varied, but mostly defensive in nature. The defense and tenacity of Mechlowits is remarkable, reminiscent of Donaldson (England champion, 1921-2).

    INDIA:

  • A.H. Fyzee is the interim president of India's TTA. He and A.A. Fyzee, defensive and very stable, are Davis Cup players in lawn tennis.
  • A.M. Peermahomed is a student of architecture, born in Bombay in 1902, who has been a member of the Indian student team for three years.
  • S. Suppiah started playing in 1924-5 when he was seventeen years old. He developed an instant genius for it, specializing in a form of heavily slashing underhand strike that he keeps so precise and low that it renders the attacking player impotent. He can drive, but he is temperamental; he is probably the best underspin player in the game.
  • 1924-5 saw a remarkable winning streak for P.N. Nanda (now back in India, arguably the greatest player in the history of the game), which ended with victories in the English and German championships.
    Suppiah beat many strong players that year but lost repeatedly to Nanda and in the English Championship to Allwright. However, in 1925–6 he lost only one important tournament, the first of the season, the semi-final of the London Championship to Nair (he also returned to India). He went on to win the Middlesex Championship, the Kent Championship, the London League Championship and the English Championship.
    following text: Fr. Blatný, published in the Topspin magazine 4/93 (Czech)
  • Hungarian domination
    The period of the first five world championships can without exaggeration be called Hungarian absolutism. It was the domain of representatives from Budapest (or, if you prefer, from Buda or Pest), who won 25 and a half gold medals out of a possible 29. So there are only 3.5 of the most valuable medals left for the rest of the world: Austria 1.25 and England (thanks to Perry) with Germany after 1. The premiere of the World Cup in table tennis rightfully belonged to the cradle of Ping-Pong - the British metropolis of London at the end of 1926 (6.- December 12th). Let's go back to those unforgettable beginnings with a mosaic of celluloid fragments.
  • Mr DRIVE
    One of the oldest participants in this World Cup was 36-year-old Percival BROMFIELD from Beckenham, who became the champion of England as a 14-year-old in 1904. He won with a racket covered with the soul of a soccer ball and repeated this success exactly 20 years later - that is, in 1924. Merchant with textile Percival Bromfield has a firm place in the history of table tennis - he is credited with "inventing" the drive! He played very energetically for his years, constantly attacked and was a master of "topspin" - not the kind that everyone owns today, but he ended an effective lift with a sharp drive - that's why Mr DRIVE...
  • VERSATILE LIONEL
    There was material alchemy at the London premiere - Englishman Lionel FARRIS always had 3-4 bats with different covers under the table - and he was ready to choose the "most suitable" bat - according to the concept of the opponent's game. Mostly, however, the World Cup was already played with rubber rackets - but with a coating on only one side. That was the time of the static game from the beginning of the century, driving, defending close behind the table. Pinking was also a powerful weapon. Confidence and keeping the ball on the table was already a valuable player's asset back then. Ping-Pong was not yet a full-fledged member of the international sports family, but it fought unstoppably - not for a place in the sun, but at least in the shadow of tennis, football and other big sports. Londoners followed the fights with interest, there were quite a few "initiated" spectators and the English press positively evaluated "a little table tennis". And so, despite the financial loss of the organizers of the WC, the world of PING-PONG stepped forward vigorously. And it was stated that the development of table tennis can no longer be stopped.
  • PING-PONG x TABLE TENNIS
    There were certain difficulties with the name PING-PONG - there were laughs and underestimation in the newspapers... EB WILSON became a serious fighter against such disparagement of the new sports industry. He brought a brilliant report on the excellent JACOBI - MECHLOWITS men's singles final, perhaps one of the best matches played on the green table to date. EB WILSON was then the "TIMES" tennis correspondent - he was the father of the even more famous sports journalist Peter WILSON of the "DAILY MIRROR".
  • SCRATCH LEGEND
    There was a hair missing, and the later world champion, the absolute legend of women's table tennis, Marija MEDNYANSKÁ, could have been scratched at the World Cup... Together with her acquaintance - a Hungarian journalist living in London - she visited the football match and did not manage to return in time for the opening round match against Spiringová! Fortunately - under the threat of punishment from the Hungarian Table Tennis Federation, she managed to beg the gentlemanly organizers and play the match additionally. Marija gritted her teeth and gradually defeated all her opponents - in the final the Welshwoman Doris Gubbins, playing penholder 2:0 (15, 19). If we consider that Marija was the only representative of Hungary at the World Championships in London - as well as at the next World Championships in Stockholm, where she won again - there was really little missing and history could have lost the legendary Maria, who did not know a defeat until 1932 in the women's singles at the World Championships, to come...
  • FREE ENTRY... AND THE PLAYERS ARE BEGGING
    The 1st WC in the metropolis on the Thames was played on 6 "JAQUES" tables, of excellent quality, slightly higher, with "TEMA" balls and with nets still 17 cm high - which of course it made offensive actions difficult. In the official program there was a kind request to the participants: The players are asked not to wear white clothes... It was only a few years later that white was banned, making it difficult to control the ball during the game. And one more curiosity - tickets to the WC were free.
  • THE RETREAT OF WOOD
    Hungarian veterans led by Mechlovits played with wooden bats for a long time. At the German International Championship in Berlin (January 1926) they saw the English playing with a grooved rubber cover for the first time. Although many believed that this was just a fad of Albion's young representatives - however, they registered greater striking options and better spin control. The Hungarians brought several bats to Budapest, started training hard with them, and already at the end of the same year - at the 1st World Championship in London, they did not regret winning all five gold medals.
  • MANY GENTLEMEN - FEW LADIES
    In London, the men's consolation competition - "MENS MINOR SINGLES" was played as the 6th discipline, available to substitutes of representative teams. PILLINGER (Austria) won before home LAWES. The two-person women's team competition did not take place - similarly to the women's doubles. The reason was prosaic - an insufficient number of registered ladies... The "CORBILLON CUP" had its premiere only in Paris in 1933. The cup was then dedicated to women by the president of the French Table Tennis Association, Marcel CORBILLON.
  • POUNDS IN THE BASKET!?!
    "We had no experience," says Ivor MONTAGU - "I didn't like the idea of formally handing pocket money to such gentlemen and simply put envelopes with the appropriate amount in the information card we handed out on the first day of the championship. To my surprise, a young diplomat asked for pocket money for the players, who claimed he hadn't received them. When we told him it was in the map he received at the briefing, he casually replied, "Ah, unfortunately, we don't care much about papers - we get so many of them at conferences. I threw everything in the trash!" We had no choice but to give him pocket money once more, but this time we were undiplomatic enough and asked for confirmation of his receipt.
  • PULOVER AND TUXEDO SUIT
    Czechoslovak Quartet - Maleček, Hájek, Koucký and Heydušek won in the team competition "SWAYTHLING CUP" sixth place. They play in the same pullovers - but at the opening party they wore tuxedos (some borrowed...) and overshadowed such stars as Béla von Hehrilnga or Daniel von Prenn, who came in walking clothes. No one knew that our the expedition was financially supported by the chairman of the Pingpong Association, Miloš BONDY.