Viktor Barna

Viktor Győző Barna (born Győző Braun; 24 August 1911 – 27 February 1972) was a Hungarian and British champion table tennis player as well as a record five times singles World Champion.^[1]

Viktor Barna
Nationality	Hungarian, English
Born	Győző Braun (1911-08-24)24 August 1911 Budapest, Austria-Hungary
Died	27 February 1972(1972-02-27) (aged 60) Lima, Peru
Medal record Men's table tennis Representing  Hungary World Championships 1929 Budapest Doubles 1929 Budapest Team 1930 Berlin Singles 1930 Berlin Doubles 1930 Berlin Team 1931 Budapest Doubles 1931 Budapest Team 1932 Prague Singles 1932 Prague Doubles 1932 Prague Mixed doubles 1933 Baden Singles 1933 Baden Doubles 1933 Baden Team 1934 Paris Singles 1934 Paris Doubles 1934 Paris Team 1935 Wembley Singles 1935 Wembley Doubles 1935 Wembley Mixed doubles 1935 Wembley Team 1938 Wembley Team 1931 Budapest Singles 1931 Budapest Mixed doubles 1932 Prague Team 1934 Paris Mixed doubles 1937 Baden Team 1938 Wembley Doubles 1930 Berlin Mixed doubles 1933 Baden Mixed doubles 1936 Prague Team 1938 Wembley Singles Representing  England World Championships 1939 Cairo Doubles 1954 Wembley Doubles 1947 Paris Doubles 1947 Paris Mixed doubles 1948 Wembley Doubles 1949 Stockholm Team 1952 Bombay Doubles 1952 Bombay Mixed doubles 1953 Bucharest Doubles 1954 Wembley Mixed doubles

He won 41 World Championship medals (including 22 gold medals) and also won 20 English Open titles.

Personal life

Barna's birth name was Győző Braun, but because of anti-Semitism in Hungary at the time, he changed his name to a Hungarian-sounding name. In September 1939, during the outbreak of the Second World War, he and his wife were in America. Barna returned to Europe, in order to fight against the Nazis. He joined the British army as a parachutist, and fought in Yugoslavia. After the British withdrew from Yugoslavia, Barna remained in England. After the war he settled with his wife in London. He became a British national in 1952. Later he became a representative for the Dunlop Sports Company and continued traveling the world in this capacity. It was during one of these tours in 1972 that he succumbed to a heart attack in Lima, Peru.

His brother Tibor Barna was the 1940 Hungarian table tennis national champion.^[2]

Writing

In 1957, he published the book "How to Win at Table Tennis" (London: Pitman) ISBN 978-0-273-41699-9.^[3] Then, in 1962, he published the book Table Tennis Today (London: Arthur Barker) and in 1971 Your Book of Table Tennis ISBN 978-0-571-09345-8.

Legacy

Barna, who was Jewish, was inducted into the International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame in 1981.

Barna was inducted into the International Table Tennis Foundation Hall of Fame in 1993.^[4]

See also

• List of select Jewish table tennis players
• List of World Table Tennis Championships medalists
• List of England players at the World Team Table Tennis Championships

References

1. Table Tennis. Time Magazine. 4 February 1935
2. "The History of Sport and Physical Education among the Jewish People in Hungary in the Last 120 Years". ISOH.
3. Amazon
4. "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 17 June 2011. Retrieved 29 December 2008.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)

External links

• "Bio, October 2003". Archived from the original on 8 July 2004. Retrieved 24 September 2013.
• Cigarette card bio
• Jewish Sports bio
• "The Magnificent Magyar", October 2005^[usurped]