Béla von Kehrling ( hu, Kehrling Béla ; 25 January 1891 – 26 April 1937) was a Hungarian tennis, table tennis, and football player but eventually a winter sportsman familiar with ice-hockey and occasionally competing in bobsleigh. He competed at the

1912 Summer Olympics The 1912 Summer Olympics ( sv, Olympiska sommarspelen 1912), officially known as the Games of the V Olympiad ( sv, Den V olympiadens spel) and commonly known as Stockholm 1912, were an international multi-sport event held in Stockholm, Sweden, be ...

and the

1924 Summer Olympics The 1924 Summer Olympics (french: Jeux olympiques d'été de 1924), officially the Games of the VIII Olympiad (french: Jeux de la VIIIe olympiade) and also known as Paris 1924, were an international multi-sport event held in Paris, France. The op ...

Career

Kehrling like

Fred Perry Frederick John Perry (18 May 1909 – 2 February 1995) was a British tennis and table tennis player and former world No. 1 from England who won 10 Majors including eight Grand Slam tournaments and two Pro Slams single titles, as well ...

, he played both tennis and table tennis professionally. In 1926 he played in the first table tennis World Championships final in London with

Zoltán Mechlovits Zoltán Mechlovits (1891 – 25 March 1951 in Budapest) was a male former international table tennis player from Hungary. Table tennis career From 1926 and 1929 he won eleven medals in singles, doubles, and team events in the World Table Tennis ...

in doubles but lost to

Roland Jacobi Roland Jacobi (9 March 1893 – 22 May 1951) was a male international table tennis player from Hungary. He was the first ever men's singles world champion at the 1926 World Table Tennis Championships and won six medals in singles, doubles and te ...

(who won the singles title) and Dániel Pécsi. He was also featured in the Hungarian team that won gold in team competition. Originally he wasn't part of the national team. While the Hungarians unanimously swept all of the medals after Roland Jacobi's singles and doubles success he suddenly been reported of the death of his father thus he decided to travel home. The substitute player was Béla von Kehrling who had to beat

Munio Pillinger Munio Pillinger was a male Austrian international table tennis player. Career He won two bronze medals at the 1926 World Table Tennis Championships in the men's doubles with Paul Flussmann and men's singles and a silver medal in the men's tea ...

of Austria to have the team medal as well. He did so and completed the flawless victory for Hungary. In the end he took two medals in the table tennis world championships, one gold and one silver. In 1924 he won the German Tennis Championships. The following year he was back in the finals but then lost against

Otto Froitzheim Otto Froitzheim (; 24 April 1884 – 27 October 1962) was a German tennis player. He won the singles and doubles titles at the World Hard Court Championships in 1912. He also won an Olympic Silver medal in singles in 1908 and was a finalist a ...

. The same year he won

Hungarian Tennis Championships The Hungarian Tennis Championships (in Hungarian:''Nemzeti Teniszbajnokság'', ''Magyar Országos Teniszbajnokság'' or abbreviated to ''tenisz ob'') also known as the Hungarian National Championships or the Hungarian Closed Championships is a p ...

(which he did 13 times altogether counting only the singles). In July 1933 Von Kehrling won the doubles and mixed doubles title at the Dutch Championships. ''Züricher Sport'' newspaper ranked Kehrling as No. 10 in the European Top 10 rankings in 1931. In conjunction with his sports activity he was the vice-president of the Hungarian Tennis Association and the editor-in-chief of its official magazine the bimonthly '' Tennisz és Golf'' (Tennis and Golf).

Personal life

Béla Kehrling married Magda Schlauch. She occasionally played tennis as well and wrote articles to the newspaper published by her husband. They had one son named Béla Kehrling, Jr, born in 1917 in Budapest who served as an

Ensign An ensign is the national flag flown on a vessel to indicate nationality. The ensign is the largest flag, generally flown at the stern (rear) of the ship while in port. The naval ensign (also known as war ensign), used on warships, may be diffe ...

in the cavalry brigade of the

Hungarian Army The Hungarian Ground Forces ( hu, Magyar Szárazföldi Haderő) is the land branch of the Hungarian Defence Forces, and is responsible for ground activities and troops including artillery, tanks, APCs, IFVs and ground support. Hungary's ground f ...

in 1944. They had another son named Tamás who was born in 1924 and died in 1999.

Tennis career statistics

Singles titles

Runner-up

* The All England Plate was a tournament played by the losers of the first two rounds of the Wimbledon Men's Singles tournament. * The Göteborg Games were A "mini-Olympics" held for the defeated nations of World War I who were defected from the

Davis Cup

Table tennis career statistics

World Table Tennis Championships The World Table Tennis Championships are table tennis competitions sanctioned by the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF). The World Championships have been held since 1926, biennially since 1957. Five individual events, which include men ...

** 1926 London *** 2nd place doubles (with

) *** 1st place with the Hungarian team ( Dániel Pécsi, Zoltán Mechlovits,

) * International Masters Cup ** 1927 Berlin – 1st place doubles (with Zoltán Mechlovits)

Football career statistics

Ice hockey career statistics

Sources

Béla von Kehrling i ITTF-Databank

Svenska Bordtennisförbundets webbplats
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References

External links

Ittf.com
* * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Kehrling, Bela Von 1891 births 1937 deaths Sportspeople from Poprad Hungarian male table tennis players Hungarian male tennis players Hungarian ice hockey players Hungarian footballers Men's association football defenders Hungarian male bobsledders Hungarian journalists Austro-Hungarian military personnel of World War I Olympic tennis players for Hungary Tennis players at the 1912 Summer Olympics Tennis players at the 1924 Summer Olympics World Table Tennis Championships medalists Hungary men's international footballers 20th-century journalists Burials at Farkasréti Cemetery