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Sport: Table Tennis
Inducted: 1982
Country: Austria
Born: 1920
Died: 1970

DESCRIPTION:

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.

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