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THE TABLE TENNIS

The Journal of the Table Tennis Collectors’ Society

37 Spring

2005

In this issue…In this issue…

No. 37 The Table Tennis Collector

· 48th WTTC Emblem (p2) by Gao Yi-bin

· Preserving the Documents that Tell your History (p3) from Ge-rald Gurney

· World Championships in Phi-lately : Part 5 1961-3 (p4) by Hans-Peter Trautmann and Win-fried Engelbrecht

· Latest from Ebay (p8)

· The First Table Tennis Calen-dar? (p11)

· Philatelic Pages (p12) by Jan Nusteleijn and Jos Zinkstok

· The First World Champion-ships (p14)

· Membership List 2005 (p16)

One of the pages of a 1903 calendar featuring ping pong illustrations by the chil-dren’s artist Hilda Cowham. See page 11 for more pictures and the full text.

What is this?

for the answer, turn to page 8

Editor: Graham Trimming 17 Gwendale, Pinkneys Green Maidenhead, Berkshire, SL6 6SH England Tel: +44 (0)1628 636978 email: [email protected]

Next issue - publication July 2005 - copy date 1 June 2005

37 Spring 2005

TTHEHE T TABLEABLE TTENNISENNIS

CCOLLECTOROLLECTOR


From the Editor

W elcome to another year of The Table Tennis Collector—its

thirteenth and the fourth since I took over its stewardship from the founder Gerald Gurney.

At the time of writing membership is a little down on last year with some having not yet renewed their sub-scription and two at least having called it a day on their involvement in collecting.

Please keep the contributions coming in—they are the lifeblood of this jour-nal and the only means that I have to make it an interesting and diverse publication. I always strive to have articles of different kinds—and deal-ing with different periods of history and contemporary—to create a bal-ance and ensure that there is some-thing of interest for everyone.

Happy New Year!

Graham

Idea for a future article I would like to write a feature on early tournaments and the players of the day from circa 1902.

Although I have some data myself, I would welcome any information about the big tournaments (results, reports, etc) and especially pen-pictures (or even photographs) of the great players of the era. Please do not send snippets from Table Tennis and Pastimes Pioneer as I have a complete set of these myself.

Many thanks,

Graham

48th WTTC Emblem

I t is known to all that table tennis is a national game of China. The 1.3 billion Chinese people have a deep feeling towards table tennis. Shanghai is known

as the cradle of table tennis in China. A number of table tennis players like Li Furong, Xu Vinzheng, Cao Yanhua and Wang Liqin were brought up in this city.

On 5 April 2002 Shanghai was granted the chance to host the competitions of five individual events of the 48th World Table Tennis Championship in 2005 with the support of ITTF members.

The emblem features the Shanghai's city flower magnolia and table tennis bats in action. This shows the 48th WTTC will be held in Shanghai, China. The loci of the balls, which is formed by the colourful ribbons, means the Championship will carry forward the Olympic spirit and enhance the unity and friendship between the players and peoples around the world. Thus, the theme of unity, friendship, exchange and improvement is highlighted. The sea animal dolphin is the mascot illustrating the feature of Shanghai, a coastal city. The lovely dolphin is named Yin Yin, which in China means the Chinese people warmly welcome the guests from afar, and also means we wish the participants to win friendship and victory.

China Post Office will be issuing a pre-stamp cover to commemorative the 48th WTTC, and Shanghai Post Office will be issue commemorative postmarks, use-meters for philately collectors from worldwide.

There are some exhibitions: Table Tennis Culture Exhibition will be held from 30 April to 6 May 2005.

By Gao Yi-bin


1. It's a Toxic World

● These things are bad for docu-ments:

Tape, paper clips, glue, post-it notes, staples, staple removers, scissors, ink, wood, plastic, rubber bands, plain card-board, acidic paper, dyed or artificial fabrics, high/low temperature or humid-ity, fluctuations in temperature or humid-ity, sunlight, insects, rodents, dirt, dust, mould, mildew, food, cooking odours, drink, tobacco smoke.

● These things are good for docu-ments:

Pencils, acid-free folders and boxes, controlled temperature and humidity (about 68 degrees Fahrenheit and 4% humidity), cleanliness.

2. Sorting Things Out

● Preserve the natural order of things:

Collections of documents are created by people doing ordinary, everyday things within their own time. The order in which they store their documents in desk draw-ers, file cabinets, shoe boxes, or shop-ping bags is as much a reflection of the way people lived as the papers them-selves. This should be preserved as much as possible.

● Sort by category first, date second:

Letters should be grouped with letters, business records with business records, photographs with photographs, etc. Within each of these groupings a chronological order should be estab-lished, beginning with the oldest items and ending with the newest.

3. Folders and Boxes

● Rule of thumb—Avoid the slump:

Do not overstuff folders and boxes. If a folder contains more items than the thickness of your thumb, it is probably too full. If a folder does not slide in and out of its box easily, the box is too full. Folders should stand up straight in their boxes. If they lean or slump, the box is too empty.

● Finding your way back:

It is a waste of time to do all this work if you cannot easily find things later. Each folder should be labelled (in pencil!) with

a brief description of its contents: e.g., "Punch: 1901 to 1905" The folder and box should each receive numbers, which are also written on the folder. The top or tab section of a typical folder might read,

Punch: 1901 to 1905—Box 7, folder 19.

An index should be created by recording the same information on a legal pad, word processor, or computer database. This will allow the next researcher to eas-ily navigate their way through the collec-tion.

4. FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions)

● Should I unfold things?

In most cases, you should not. Things that have been folded for years, decades, or centuries do not unfold easily. Paper may be brittle or even stuck together. Prior to c.1850 paper was made with a high content of linen. This type of paper, called "rag," is usually pliable. After 1850, paper companies began to use greater amounts of wood pulp and chemicals, which led to the "brittle paper period." Be careful. Play it safe.

● Should I peel off old tape, remove staples or paper clips?

Only if this can be done with absolutely no risk of damage. Old tape is some-times so dry that the adhesive is no longer active. If it resists, leave it. Paper clips can usually be removed easily. The prongs of staples should be bent upwards so that the staple can be easily removed from the page. Do not use the claw-type staple remover! This will tear the paper. If it resists or there is any risk of damaging the document, leave it.

● What should I do with crumbly old newspaper or torn documents?

Do not try to repair them. Even we leave that to the experts. Gather as many of the pieces as you can find and place them in their own folder. Sometimes it helps to reassemble the item and photocopy it. Place the photocopy in the same folder . For researchers, it is the information on the document—not its condition—that is most important.

● Should I throw anything away?

No. Conservation technology is con-stantly advancing and even the most

damaged document can often be sal-vaged. Something that appears useless can often contain unrecognized intrinsic value. Don't take the chance. Hang onto it. Items that can be harmful to other documents (nitrate film, insect infested documents, etc.) have unique needs and should be isolated for more intensive con-servation. A possible exception is an item that is clearly duplicated elsewhere in the collection. This can include brochures, menus, newspapers, and other printed matter. Keep at least two copies.

$$ What are these things worth? Should I worry about that? No! As sources of information, each item is of equal worth and should be treated with the same high level of care and attention.

● What should I do with photo-graphs?

Photographs have unique demands that cannot be covered on this information sheet. Generally they are segregated from documents and placed in their own archival folders or sleeves.

Preserving the Documents that Tell your History Gerald Gurney has sent in this instructional leaflet, produced by the Newport Historical Society in the USA. Many members will have docu-ments that they wish to preserve in the best possible way and the fol-lowing may be of some assistance to them.

From Gerald Gurney

What is this? Apart from being a filler for an odd-shaped left-over space!

This card is in the Editor’s col-lection but little is known about it. On the reverse is the number 6500. It looks Oriental.


World Championships in Philately By Hans-Peter Trautmann and Winfried Engelbrecht Part 5

Part 5 of Hans-Peter Trautmann’s and Winfried Engelbrecht’s World Table Tennis Championships in philately. Part 1 in the issue 33 began the story in 1950, the year in which special postmarks were used for the first time.

1961 Beijing, China Event Winner(s) Country City

Men’s Singles: Chuang Tse-Tung China

Women’s Singles: Chiu Chung-Hui China

Men’s Team: Chuang Tse-Tung, Hsu Yin-sheng, Jung Kuo-tuan, Li Fu-jung, Wang Chuan-yao

China

Women’s Team: Itoh-Yamaizumi, Matsuzaki, Okada-Okawa, Seki Japan

Stamps: China

Sheet: China

Cancellations: China Beijing

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First day covers from the People’s Republic of China with cancellation from Peking 5.4.1961


1963 Prague, Czechoslovakia Event Winner(s) Country City

Men’s Singles: Chuang Tse-Tung China

Women’s Singles: Kimuyo Matsuzaki Japan

Men’s Team: Chuang Tse-Tung, Hsu Yin-sheng, Li Fu-jung, Wang Chia-sheng, Chang Shi-lin

China

Women’s Team: Itoh, Matsuzaki, Seki, Yamanaka Japan

Stamps: China Czechoslovakia

Cancellations: China Czechoslovakia

Beijing Prague: 3 types: a/b/c

Stamps: left and centre from China; right from Czechoslovakia


Czechoslovakian cancellations (left to right): type a (special, dated April 5, 1963), b and c

Jan Nusteleyn Weserstraat 21, 9406VP Assen, The Netherlands. Tel: 0592 356050 Email: [email protected] Web site: www.poveia.nl Interests: Stamps, cancellations, redmarks special: WC, EC, EC Youth, Top 12, Russian; FDCs; letters. Sale/Exchange: Stamps, cancellations, pins, phonecards. Acquire: As Above.

Robert Op de Beeck J. F. Willemsstraat 66, 2530 Boechout, Belgium. Tel: +32 (0) 3455 4159 Interests: TT museum.

Jeong Kye Park PO Box 555, Busan 600-605, South Korea Email: [email protected] Sale/Exchange: New issues. Acquire: As above.

Robin Radford 16 St. Edmund Cr, Tawa, Wellington, New Zealand. Tel: +64 (0) 4232 5672 Fax: +64 (0) 4232 9172 Email: [email protected] Web site: www.tabletennis.org.nz Interests: Collecting TT cartoons & clip art electronically. Sale/Exchange: as above.

Robert Trudell 7527 E. Grandview Circle, Mesa, AZ 85207-3897, USA. Tel: +1 480 641 2153 Email: [email protected] Web site: http://tt.mainstreet.net/ttoutpost/ Sale/Exchange: Original cartoons; painted paddles. Acquire: Cartoons; comics; novelty items; provocative female ads, photos, items & videos; celebrity cartoons & photos; TV & cartoon videos.

Michael Thomson 1 Kinnoull Terrace, Perth, PH2 7DJ, Scotland. Tel: +44 (0) 1738 622052 Interests: Jaques/Hamleys Ping-Pong. Acquire: Anything to do with the link between Jaques and Hamleys.

Hans-Peter Trautmann Siegfriedstr. 17, Reichelsheim, D-64385, Germany. Email: [email protected] Interests: Stamps & sheets: mint perforated and imperforated, artist-sheets, minister-sheets, colour-proofs, errors, proofs; postmarks: special, slogan, meters; postcards: written from famous TT players. Sale/Exchange: All kinds of postmarks. Ask for list of duplicates for swap. Acquire: Postmarks - ask for want list.

Membership List 2005 (continued from page 16)

Graham Trimming 17 Gwendale, Pinkneys Green, Maidenhead, Berkshire, SL6 6SH, Tel: +44 (0) 1628 636978 Email: [email protected] Web site: http://freespace.virgin.net/graham.trimmin g/index.htm Interests: All TT related items pre-1939 especially 1900s Acquire: Gossima 1891; other early unusual items; early WC items.

Russ Walker 4316 Irving Ave N, Mpls, MN 55412, USA Tel: +01 612 522 7905 Email: [email protected] Interests: Early boxed sets and paddles. Acquire: Royal Game of Table Tennis (1902, Milton Bradley).

Gao Yi-Bin 2-202 Lakeside Appartment (JN), , Nanjing, 211100, PR China. Tel: 86-25-2123334 Email: [email protected] Interests: TT stamps; FDC; postcards; commemorative postmarks; postal stationeries; pins; coins.

Jos Zinkstok Neckarstraat 8, 9406 VN, Assen, Netherlands. Tel: +31 (0)592 350486 Fax: +31 (0)592 355861 Email: [email protected] Web site: www.poveia.nl

A special welcome to new member Robert Trudell.


Latest from Ebay www.ebay.com

One of the best sources of items to augment collections of any sort is the internet auction giant Ebay. He is a selection of some of the better items that have been traded on Ebay since the last issue of this journal. One item, a calendar from 1903, is so special and rare that I have dedicated an entire page to it.

Table tennis trophies from the 1902 era are rare, very rare. In almost all reports of tournaments from the turn of the last century that I have come across, the winners were given prizes, everyday items es-pecially silver items, and therefore the above is an exceptional item. A member of the Society man-aged to add it to his collection for the sum of USD 110. The cup was made by Reed & Barton and that name together with the number 95 is stamped on its base. The front of the cup is engraved “Ping Pong Singles May 12th, 1902.” It measures 4 inches tall and 6.5 inches wide. Can you tell us more about the history of this item?

Another member of the Society acquired this metamorphic Victorian Christmas card, depicting an elegantly-dressed couple at a ping pong table, for USD 184. When the flap is lifted, the couple’s heads turn into ping pong balls. The images are accompanied by lines from Tennyson, Lowell and Longfellow and the reverse of the card fea-tures a six-line poem with some ping pong terms used as puns.

The ITTF Museum acquired this silver mounted bat for only GBP42. It is a rubber-faced bat with red leather finish around the edge. The handle is whipped with black cord and the butt has a silver hallmarked cap upon which there is an enamel coat of arms and royal crown.

These photos © ITTF Museum

This pair of early Spalding bats were bought by a specialist Spalding collector for USD 180. The seller described the facing of the bats as “swede like leather with a red leather trim.”


Easily recognisable as Bussey’s even without the boldly stated mak-ers’ name on the box lid—those twisted metal posts in black and gold could not be from anyone else. I have depicted Bussey’s sets in the past but what makes this one stand out from the crowd is that, although most likely of English manufacture, it was produced for the Swedish market as evidenced by the set of rules in the Swedish lan-guage. The seller was located in Sweden and the purchaser in Swit-zerland—the ITTF Museum! The deal was done for USD 127.

Continuing the theme of sets from other European countries, above is a fine French Ping-Pong set from a hundred or so years ago. A member of the Society parted with USD 183 to secure its move-ment from Switzerland across the Atlantic. Wooden pieces abound, including the beautiful compartmen-talised box and the net support. The net is hand-knotted and blue in colour. Apart from the stringing of the racket, it all appears to be in pristine condi-tion.

At first glance the reader will probably identify the picture below as the Louis Wain Christmas postcard issued in the early 1900s. However, this is not a postcard but an original watercolour painting by Wain on card meas-uring 9 inches by 6 inches. I have looked carefully at the picture and com-pared in to the postcard in my collection and I can spot minor differences even though the pictures are substantially the same. Of course, the listing of this on Ebay brought out all the cat lovers and Wain enthusiasts so we pingers did not have it all our own way. I counted nine different bidders amongst the total of 38 bids but did not recognise any of them as the usual suspects. A cat lover eventually secured its ownership for GBP 363.

Below is a book that does not appear in list-ings on the internet as often as one might expect. ITTF Founder and President Ivor Montagu’s autobiography The Youngest Son was on Gerald’s wants list for some time so it has to be fairly rare. This 1970 signed first edition in very good condition, complete with dust jacket , was snapped up for USD 91 by someone I did not recognise as a table tennis collector.

No. 35 The Table Tennis Collector No. 37 The Table Tennis Collector Page 10

These three original cartoons by Styx were bought by a non-table tennis collector for GBP 83. They measure 8 inches by 6 inches and we know little else about them!

It is quite unusual for World Championships programmes to be seen on Ebay although the 1954 London production can be found from time to time. This item was for the 1938 finals, not the rarest by any means but unusual to find it with soe many autoraphs of the players on the front. A collector parted with only GBP 36 for this.

The prices that not-so-old bats are commanding nowadays makes it quite lucrative for table tennis enthusiasts, who played through the fifties and sixties, to look out any old bats that might be hiding away. These two are in exceptional condition, of course, but USD 788 paid for the Stiga “Flisan” (named after Tage Flisberg) (left) and USD 214 paid for the Hans Alser bat from the same manufacturer must have had their Swedish owners racing to their banks in delight. Neither, this time, found its way to the ITTF Museum.


January: “I went to a dance at the Hartley’s and they had Ping Pong in the intervals. It is such fun. Young W. Hart-ley showed me how to play: and after that we sat out sev-eral games in the conserva-tory.” Extract from a letter to Miss Pepper.

February and March: “Dear Dad you will be glad to know that Ime getting on beautifully here, old Skeggs is a brik she has Rigged up a pinpong table in the school room for Us to play in wet Wether and the other night was her birth-day we had a party and a lot

The First Table Tennis Calendar? This very rare table tennis calendar for 1903 was sold on Ebay in January for GBP 80 (only!) and was ac-quired by the ITTF Museum. This item comprises of six illustrated sheets, by Hilda Cowham (well known illus-trator of children’s books of this period), that would have originally been held by string. Each page has a calen-dar per month, a large colour illustration of an amusing table tennis scene surrounded by small black and white vignettes of table tennis players in various poses. There is a verse or prose extract that accompanies each illustration. All pictures on this page and front cover © ITTF Museum—they are better quality images than the ones copied from Ebay!

of girls came.” Extract from a letter of Master Pepper.

April, May and June: “Had a cicular this morning from our local toy shop calling attention to the value of Ping Pong as a sport for the nusery. I have always maintained that the game is an ideal one for children.” Extract from the diary of Mr Pepper.

July and August: “Had a letter this morning from Edward our eld-est son who is in the army. Pleased to hear that he and his brother officers take interest in all noble and manly sports.” Extract from Diary of Mr Pepper.

September and Octo-ber: “Glorious institu-tion this Ping Pong. Wonder how the world has managed to exist without it for so long. Feel rather tired to-day, all the same. W en t do wn t o Badger’s house & took part in tournament for middle-aged players.

Tournament didn’t finish till midnight.” Extract from the diary of Mr Pepper.

November and December: “Weere having Ping Pong nerely evry evening after dinner in the kitchen and last nite I won a prize such a lovely pincoushin for the dressing table & Mr Jones the butler whose sweet on the housemaid at No9 won a mereshum pipe.” Extract from a letter of Mary Ann Evins.

All spelling as it appears!

These illustrations, by Hilda Cow-ham, are the same as appeared in the book Ping Pong People, penned by Arnold Goldsworthy. Although the text in the book is dif-ferent it features the diary of Mr. Pepper.

I have included the whole of the first page but only the main illustra-tion from the remaining pages—GT.


Philatelic Pages Please send your contributions for

the philatelic pages to:

Jos Zinkstok Neckarstraat 8

NL-9406 VN ASSEN The Netherlands

Email: [email protected] Jan Nusteleijn and Jos Zinkstok take over the contribution previously made by Anton Zwiebel about table tennis stamps, post-marks and other items of philatelic interest. My thanks to Jan and Jos for this—GT.

Stamps

The 2004 Athens Olympic Games continue to dominate news of new issues and we have several more to report here. These are in addition to the stamps shown in the new three editions of the Collector.

Rep. Of Guinea Athens sheetlet and souvenir sheet supplementary to the two issues announced in TTC no. 34.

North Korea sheets of eight stamps with two stamps each of four different sports. The sheet has an ornamental border of eight sports, bot-tom left is table tennis.

Central Africa 3.3.04 Olym-pics issue supplementary to the two issues an-nounced in TTC no. 35.

Guinee Bissau Olympics sheetlet and souvenir sheet issued in 2003. Additional to the announcement in TTC No. 35.

Still more issues commemorating the 2004 Olympics (left to right): Central Africa stamp and souvenir sheet both in silver and gold; Congo sheetlet; S. Tomé e Principe sheetlet.


Cancellations

Hong Kong: 7.10.04 issue congratu-lating the Hong Kong team for their achievement in winning the silver medal in the Men’s Doubles at table tennis at the Athens Olympics. The picture shows the table tennis section of the sheet with different tabs. This was also issued as a special cover.

Hungary: 80th anniversary of the founding of the Hungarian Table Tennis Federation shown as a vignet (cinderella).

Austria: national table tennis team 2004 with Karl Jindrak, Judit Herczig, Chen Weixing, Werner Schlager, Kostadin Lengerov, Liu Jia and Robert Gardos in sheetlet of twenty stamps.

China: private issue 2004 with personalized tab.

All stamps shown at 100% and sheetlets and sheets shown at 50%.

To our surprise we can show you an archaeological discovery! This is probably the first triumphal cancella-tion of China in honour of the five cups they won at the 28th World Championships in Ljubljana, Yugosla-via 1965.

Never before pub-lished cancellation of the 31st World Cham-pionships in Nagoya, Japan 1971.

Three cancellations in honour of Chinese gold medal winners at Athens by the city of Huangshi.

20.8.04 Women’s Doubles: Wang Nan & Zhang Yining

21.8.04 Men’s Doubles: Chen Qi & Ma Lin

22.8.04 Women’s Singles: Zhang Yining

China: 16-19.9.04 Volks-wagen Table Tennis Prix in the city of Changchun.

Hong Kong: to honour the winners of the silver medal at the Athens Olympics, Kai Chak Ko & Ching Li.


China: 20.10.03 the 2003 Kanshoen Super Circuit held 23-26 October 2003 in the city of Yan Cheng—cancellation in red and black.

China: 27.10.04 in the city of Huangshou the 25th ITTF Men’s World Cup and the 8th ITTF Women’s World Cup.

China: 4th under-17 table tennis challenge match in the city of Jiao Zuo dated 26.11.04 and closing date 31.12.04—cancellation in red and black.

All cancellations shown at 100%.

For their contributions to these pages we want to thank Bob op de Beeck, Hans Peter Trautmann, Gao Yi-Bin and our spe-cial thanks to Tang Ganxian for his great support—JN and JZ.

TABLE TENNIS. ———–

INTERNATIONAL TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP.

Austria and Hungary, having tied for first place in the Table Tennis Inter-national Team Championship for the Swaythling Cup, played off for the trophy last night at the Memorial Hall, Farringdon-street, where Hungary beat Austria by five matches to four, and so became the champion coun-try.

The results were:—

Dr. Dani Pecsi (Hungary) lost to M. Pillin-ger (17-21, 13-21), beat E. Freudenheim (21-15, 21-13), beat P. Flussmann (14-21, 21-18, 21-16). Z. Mechlowits (Hungary) lost to Pillinger (12-21, 22-24), beat Freudenheim (21-15, 21-11), beat Flussmann (21-16, 21-23, 21-18). Bela von Kehrling (Hungary) beat Pillinger (21-18, 11-21, 21-16), lost to Freuden-heim (18-21, 21-12, 18-21), lost to Fluss-mann (16-21, 19-21).

14 December 1926

TABLE TENNIS. ——————

ENGLAND v. INDIA.

India beat England by five matches to four in the international table tennis match at the Herga L.T.C., Harrow, last night.


R. G. Suppiah (India) beat B. Bernstein (14-21, 21-16, 21-13); A. M. Peerma-homed (India) lost to C. W. Allwright (17-21, 10-21); A. A. Fyzee (India) beat P. Bromfield (21-18, 21-15); Suppiah (India) beat Allwright (19-21, 21-19, 21-16); Peer-mahomed (India) lost to Bernstein (21-11, 19-21, 11-21); Fyzee (India) lost to All-wright (21-14, 13-21, 17-21); Peerma-homed (India) beat Bromfield (21-18, 21-14); Fyzee (India) lost to Bernstein (21-18, 13-21, 11-21); Suppiah (India) beat Brom-field (21-18, 21-13).

7 December 1926

TABLE TENNIS. —–——

INTERNATIONAL TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP.

The Table Tennis International Team Championship for the Swaythling Cup was played at the Memorial Hall, Farringdon-street, yesterday, when Hungary tied with Austria for first place: The results were:—

England, 8; Germany, 1. Hungary, 8; Czechoslovakia, 1. Hungary, 9; Germany, 0. Austria, 7; India, 2. India, 5; Wales 4. Czechoslovakia, 5; Germany, 4. England, 9; Czechoslovakia, 0. Hungary, 7; Eng-land, 2. Austria, 9; Germany, 0. India, 7; Czechoslovakia, 2. Austria, 5; Hungary, 4. England, 5; Wales, 4. India, 5; Germany 4.

10 December 1926

The First World Championships

The major piece in this collection appears on page 15 but to complete the story, here are the three other reports that appeared in the Times newspaper about those first World Championships.


TABLE TENNIS. ——————–

EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIPS.

The final matches of the European Table Tennis Championships were decided at the Memorial Hall, Far-ringdon-street, on Saturday night.

This should have brought to a close a tournament in which the play has been something of a revelation to people who have just played a little table tennis in the spirit which still designates the game as “Ping-Pong.” Owing, however, to a draw between Hungary and Austria in the team championship the tournament will be continued to-night, when Hungary and Austria play off for the team championship.

In the spirit that it is always worth while to take even considerable trou-ble to see the best exhibition of any game or sport played in the world, it is very well worth going to see this modern table tennis. It is necessary to know the game to appreciate it as these real experts play it. The how and why of the various strokes, the variation of top-spin, cut and slice combined with change of pace, need a deal of understanding; and to play as these masters of the game do play must need, and does need, almost incessant practice.

The racket or bat is to the table ten-nis player something of the impor-tance of a bat to a No. 1 batsman in a Test match, or his rackets to a cham-pionship player at Wimbledon. One does not see a Hobbs or a Zoltan Mechlowits pick up any old bat to play in a Test match! It seems to be acknowledged—for the moment at least—that the best bat is a wooden one faced with indiarubber. The in-diarubber facing holds the ball on the racket just long enough to enable the player to obtain full control of the ball, without losing too much of the essen-tial drive necessary to impart pace to the ball. Touch is, of course, every-thing in table tennis, and without real delicacy of touch no player can ap-proach the championship class.

As a fact, it is said that there are bet-ter players than Dr. R. Jacobi (Hungary), who won the final on Sat-

urday, and than M. Zoltan Mechlowits (Hungary), who was favourite at the start of the Championship, in Hun-gary: to the ordinary observer these two players looked good enough to beat any previous conception of a player one might have had. One was lucky enough to see the two styles, or forms, of the game played. Dr. Jacobi uses the lawn tennis grip, the ordi-nary player’s grip; his opponent uses the penholder grip, which, when one first tries it, feels like an act of lunacy. Dr. Jacobi won in the end, owing to his astonishing return of apparently unreturnable strokes—unreturnable on to the small space of “playing ground,” that is to say. For the diffi-cult stroke the ordinary grip seems to cover more ground in return. There is still one very obvious weakness in table tennis, an annoying part of the game which has been quite unsatis-factory for over 25 years: to wit, the net. There are far too many net-cord strokes in the game which are abso-lutely winning strokes: and, of course, they are not good strokes, the best of them—that is to say, those that go absolutely dead—being the worst of them. As many as 25 years ago many players scrapped their nets and used instead a curtain-rod or some such straight-bar, laid across the ta-ble on books or other supports to the measured height of the standard net. This home-made “net” proved a much fairer one to both players than the standard affair. One imagines that a net made of wire netting of some sort would make the game freer from flukes than it now is. On Saturday night two points were once won out of five by net-cord balls, which the player made no attempt to return.

It would appear that M. Zoltan Mechlowits was either a little stale or a little tired in his final match. At any rate, he had flashes of brilliance alter-nated by bad spots, in which he made just ordinary mistakes; and a point of his game when he is at his best is that he does not make an “ordinary” mistake once in a game. Probably the astonishing return of Dr. Jacobi—his fore-hand, heavily cut return of a very hard drive taken feet behind the table, must be seen to be believed—had a good deal to do with his opponent’s mistakes. Dr. Jacobi

won the first game somewhat easily. The second game was a tremendous affair, M. Zoltan Mechlowits catching up at 20-20, and only being beaten after being within a stroke of the game. At table tennis they do not set as one would expect from the scor-ing, but at 20-20 and onwards two strokes must be won in succession, as in the case of deuce at lawn ten-nis. In the final game Dr. Jacobi led 20-9, and all seemed over. His oppo-nent then made a brilliant sequence of ten aces, but lost the next point and the game and match.

In the Ladies’ Singles Championship, Miss Maria von Mednyanszki (Hungary) was just too steady and experienced for Miss Gubbins (Bridgend). The ladies appeared to be almost as good as the men. The Hungarian player, coolness personi-fied, gained an early lead in the first game, and, although Miss Gubbins improved as she went on, she could never get on terms. In the second game Miss Gubbins picked up from 4-10 to 15-15. Miss von Mednyanszki won the next five points to become 20-15. Miss Gubbins won the follow-ing four rallies to become 19-20, and then—what a tragedy—served a fault, which lost her the game and the match. The Doubles game is a matter of real skill and combination, a seri-ous game, not that noisy and amus-ing performance in which players used to indulge when playing with one racket per side. The men’s final last night—all four players were Hun-garians—was a fine exhibition of tac-tics and stroke play combined.


SINGLES CHAMPIONSHIP.—SEMI-FINAL ROUND.—Zoltan Mechlowits (Hungary) beat S. Suppiah (India) (21-19, 21-9, 21-8); Dr. R. Jacobi (Hungary) beat M. Pillinger (Austria) (18-21, 21-12, 21-15, 21-16). FINAL ROUND.—Jacobi beat Mechlowits (21-12, 24-22, 21-19). LADIES’ SINGLES CHAMPIONSHIP.—SEMI-FINAL ROUND.—Miss D. Gubbins (Bridgend) beat Mrs. Flussmann (Austria) (21-14, 21-15); Miss M. von Mednyanszky (Hungary) beat Miss Land (Herga) (26-24, 21-9). FINAL ROUND.—Miss M. von Mednyanszky beat Miss Gubbins (21-15, 21-19). DOUBLES CHAMPIONSHIP.—FINAL ROUND.—Dr. R. Jacobi and Dr. Dani Pecsi beat Zoltan Mechlowits and Bela von Kehrling (21-15, 10-21, 21-11). MIXED DOUBLES CHAMPIONSHIP.—FINAL ROUND.—Zoltan Mechlowits and Miss M. von Mednyanszky beat Dr. R. Jacobi and Miss Gleeson (21-14, 21-8).

Following on from the features about the first World Championship in TTC nos. 33 and 34, below is how the Times newspaper in London reported the finals in its edition of Monday 13 December 1926.

The First World Championships

Published by Graham Trimming on behalf of the Table Tennis Collectors’ Society, March 2005 17 Gwendale, Pinkneys Green, Maidenhead, Berkshire, SL6 6SH, England Tel: +44 (0)1628 636978; email: [email protected] Web site: http://freespace.virgin.net/graham.trimming/TTCS/TTCSHome.htm © Graham Trimming—no part of this publication may be reproduced without the prior consent of the publisher.


Membership List 2005 This list of members is correct as at 22nd March and includes notes of members’ particular interests as well as any items they may wish to acquire or have available for sale/exchange.

Günther Angenendt Langacker 10a, 44869 Bochum, Germany Tel: +49 2327 77117 Fax: +49 2327 77117 Email: [email protected] Interests: Everything concerning TT: pre-WWII programmes; old German TT sets; pins. Sale/Exchange: 400 pins; books; post-war WC & EC programmes.

Keith Bowler 14 Ewell Street, Balmain, NSW 2041, Australia. Tel: +61 (02) 9810 4128

Ron Crayden 7 Grennell Road, Sutton, Surrey, SM1 3DW, England. Tel: +44 (0) 208 644 5004 Sale/Exchange: Books & magazines.

Andre Demeure Place de Mai, 10, B-1200 Brussels, Belgium. Tel: +32 (0) 2770 5929 Email: [email protected] Interests: Stamps (perforated, imperforated); cancellations; red meter; postal stationeries; colour proof artist sheet; postcards, phonecards. Sale/Exchange: as above. Acquire: as above.

Jean Devys Residence La Petit Vigne, 20 rue Edgar Quinet, F-59100 Roubaix, France. Tel: +33 3208 28444 Fax: +33 3206 60849 Sale/Exchange: TT many. Acquire: TT many.

Axel Dickhaus Atzlenbacher Str. 88, D-51381 Leverkusen, Germany. Tel: +49 (0) 2171 32108 Fax: +49 (0) 2171 731478 Email: [email protected] Interests: TT balls; phonecards. Sale/Exchange: TT balls.

Alan Duke 2 Shapwick Close, Swindon, Wiltshire, SN3 3RQ, England. Tel: +44 (0) 1793 531234 Email: [email protected] Interests: TT music; photo record of collectibles; etc.

Sergio Durazzano Via Girardini 8, 33100 Udine, Italy. Tel: +39 0432 21105 Fax: +39 0432 21105 Email: [email protected] Web site: www.durazzanotraduzioni.it Interests: TT stamps; books.

Winfried Engelbrecht Virgiliastr. 21, Essen, D-45131, Germany. Tel: +49 2017 86795 Email: [email protected] Interests: Philately: stamps, FDCs, sheets, postmarks; postcards; phonecards; books; tickets; pins; stickers; WC programmes. Sale/Exchange: Stamp; postcards - please sent want list. Acquire: Early TT postcards; early WC programmes.

Romualdas Franckaitis Knygnesiu 8, LT-84103 Joniskis, Lithuania Tel: +370 426 51200 Fax: +370 426 51200 Email: [email protected] Web site: www.delfi.lt Interests: TT balls; badges/pins; WC & EC programmes; first books; unusual bats. Sale/Exchange: Balls; pins; programmes; books. Acquire: Early sets esp. Ping-Pong or Spalding 1902; early books.

Dick Frost Gerona, Church Road, Rugby, Warwickshire, CV23 8DH, England. Tel: +44 (0)1788 810867

Siegfried Furchert Goldbachstrasse 17E, 37269 Eschwege, Germany. Tel: +49 (0) 5651 13138 Email: [email protected] Interests: TT stamps; postcards; letters.

David George No. 1 Kingshill Cottages, Coatbridge Road, Gartcosh, G69 8DS, Scotland. Tel: +44 (0) 1236 872350 Interests: TT badges; pins; medals; fobs; keyrings. Sale/Exchange: TT bats; balls; boxed sets; postal items; programmes; books; cards; magazines, league handbooks, etc. Send for list. Acquire: See special interests.

David Good 710 N. Waverley, Dearborn, MI, 48128, USA. Tel: +1 313 278 5271 Email: [email protected] Interests: Ping-pong c. 1902: sets; equipment; books; ephemera; oddities.

Scott Gordon 93 45th Street, Sacramento, CA, 95819, USA. Tel: +1 916 457 8482 Email: [email protected] Web site: www.hardbat.com Interests: Old films of TT; hardbats 1920-50s paddles; old books. Acquire: See above.

Gordan Gotal Meduliceva 23, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia. Tel: +3851 4848 687 Email: [email protected] Interests: TT pins & badges (WC, EC, federations). Sale/Exchange: TT pins (WC, EC, federations, clubs, tournaments, participations medals, postcards). Acquire: Official badges from different WC and EC (guest, organizer, player, press, etc).

Gerald Gurney Guildhall Orchard, Mary Lane North, Great Bromley, Colchester, Essex, CO7 7TU, England. Tel: +44 (0) 1206 230330 Fax: +44 (0) 1206 230330 Interests: Equipment; ephemera. Historian and author. Worldwide exhibitions. Sale/Exchange: Boxed sets; postcards; books; rackets.

Chuck Hoey ITTF, Chemin de la Roche 11, CH-1020 Renens, Switzerland. Tel: +41 21 340 7096 Fax: +41 21 340 7099 Email: [email protected] Web site: www.tabletennismuseum.com Interests: WC programmes 1928-34; classic bats 1930s-60s; WC medals. Sale/Exchange: Many items in all categories available for exchanges. Acquire: WC programmes 1928-34; classic bats w/picture or name of top players 1930s-60s; also bats of unusual shape and thick sponge bats from the 1950s; Jaques Society set with ball retriever.

Ray Hogg 100 School Road, Drayton, Norwich, Norfolk, NR8 6EN, England. Tel: +44 (0) 1603 867160

Jan Kleeven Margrietstraat 63, 6373 NN Landgraaf, The Netherlands. Email: [email protected] Interests: TT pins from national associations; stamps; old Sale/Exchange: TT stamps; pins from different TT clubs all over the World; postcards; phonecards. Acquire: TT pins from national assocations.

Randy Koo Torenwacht 37, 2353 DB Leiderdorp, The Netherlands. Tel: +31 (0) 7154 17413 Email: [email protected] Interests: Stamps; special cancellations; red meters; FDC. Acquire: As above.

Hans Kreischer Avenida de les Comarques 21, 03111 Busot, Alicante, Spain. Tel: +34 9656 98195 Email: [email protected] Web site: www.ttmuseum.nl

Kevin Lau 7544 N. Claremont Avenue, Chicago, IL, 60645, USA. Tel: +1 773 719 0860 Fax: +1 773 338 1831 Email: [email protected] Interests: TT philatelic items; pins; coins; souvenir items; memorabilia; decorative items. Acquire: See above.

Jorgen Lindh Brages Grand 78, Varberg, SE-43231, Sweden.

Peter Longhurst 18 Woodlands Crescent, Buckingham, Buckinghamshire, MK18 1PH, England. Tel: +44 (0) 1280 813356 Interests: All TT items & books.

Simeoni Luigi Via Ponte, S. Pancrazio 2/A, 37133 Verona, Italy. Tel: +39 045 532033 Email: [email protected] Interests: Balls.

Eldon Mohler 3910 Pecoo-McLoed, A100, Las Vegas, NV 89121, USA. Tel: +1 702 453 1240 Email: [email protected] Ken Muhr 2 Highgate Hill, Hawkhurst, Kent, TN18 4LB, England. Tel: +44 (0) 1580 752676 Email: [email protected] Interests: History; books.

Rudolf Muller Bahnhofstr. 58, D-57250 Netphen, Germany. Tel: +49 (0) 2738 1461 Fax: +49 (0) 2738 1461 Email: [email protected] Interests: TT stamps; cancellations; letters; errors; red meter marks.

Paul Nichols 50 Newton Road, Duston, Northampton, Northants, NN5 6TL, England. Tel: +44 (0) 1604 457896 Email: [email protected] Interests: Old postcards.

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Transcript of The Journal of the Table Tennis Collectors’ Society · PDF filetab section of a typical...