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John Alfred Leach
MBE Mbe may refer to:
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(20 November 1922 – 5 June 2014) was a British
table tennis
Table tennis, also known as ping-pong and whiff-whaff, is a sport in which two or four players hit a lightweight ball, also known as the ping-pong ball, back and forth across a table using small solid rackets. It takes place on a hard table div ...
player, coach, and author. He began competing at a relatively old age, 17, before serving in World War II. During the war, he greatly elevated his game and, in 1946, achieved a world ranking. In 1949, Leach became Great Britain's second World Champion singles player. After winning the title, he achieved widespread fame within the United Kingdom, appearing on television and writing for ''
News of the World
The ''News of the World'' was a weekly national Tabloid journalism#Red tops, red top Tabloid (newspaper format), tabloid newspaper published every Sunday in the United Kingdom from 1843 to 2011. It was at one time the world's highest-selling En ...
''. Two years later, Leach added a second singles title. In 1953, he was part of the team that won Great Britain's first, and as of 2014 only, team World Championship. He also won 13 bronze and silver World championship medals between 1947 and 1955. As of 2014, Leach is just one of 11 players from any country to win two singles championships.
After Leach retired in 1965, he remained active in the sport. He was England's national coach for eight years and served as president of the
English Table Tennis Association
Table Tennis England, formerly the English Table Tennis Association, is the national governing body for table tennis in England, responsible for representing, coordinating, administering, marketing and developing the sport. Most of its annual inco ...
for more than 20 years. He continued to write a column for ''
News of the World
The ''News of the World'' was a weekly national Tabloid journalism#Red tops, red top Tabloid (newspaper format), tabloid newspaper published every Sunday in the United Kingdom from 1843 to 2011. It was at one time the world's highest-selling En ...
'' for twenty years and published several books on table tennis. He also worked as a commentator for the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
and
ITV
ITV or iTV may refer to:
ITV
*Independent Television (ITV), a British television network, consisting of:
** ITV (TV network), a free-to-air national commercial television network covering the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man, and the Channel Islan ...
during table tennis broadcasts. Leach bought a table tennis manufacture and started a talent search agency. In 1966, he was named a
Member of the Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations,
and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...
. He was inducted into the
International Table Tennis Federation Hall of Fame in 1997.
Early life
John Alfred Leach was born 20 November 1922 in
Bow on the east side of London, the son of Jim and Emma Leach. Growing up in
Dagenham, Essex, Leach hung out at the
British Ropes Works
British may refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies.
** Britishness, the British identity and common culture
* British English, ...
canteen, where his father was the manager. There, he learned to play table tennis.
Leach was soon spending every spare moment, up to eight hours a day, practising.
On the encouragement of his father, he began to compete in junior-level competitions at the age of 17, considered a late age to get started in competition.
As Leach began to get serious about his play,
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
broke out.
He enlisted, serving with the
Royal Air Force
The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...
in Northern Ireland as a radioman.
He was placed in the same squadron as table tennis player and coach
Jack Carrington
Jack Carrington (1909-1984), was a male England, English international table tennis player.
Table tennis career
He won a silver medal at the 1947 World Table Tennis Championships in the men's doubles with Johnny Leach. Four years later he won a ...
, who began to instruct him, and international-level player
Ron Craydon Ron is a shortening of the name Ronald.
Ron or RON may also refer to:
Arts and media
* Big Ron (''EastEnders''), a TV character
* Ron (''King of Fighters''), a video game character
*Ron Douglas, the protagonist in '' Lucky Stiff'' played by Joe ...
.
Working 24 hours on, 24 hours off shifts, Leach would spend most of his time off practising hitting the ball to different parts of the table.
He also met and practised with two international-level players during the war:
Victor Barna
Viktor Győző Barna (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.
He won 41 World Championship medals and also won 20 English Ope ...
of Hungary and
Richard Bergmann
Richard Bergmann (10 April 1919 – 5 April 1970) was an Austrian and British international table tennis player. Winner of seven World Championships, including four Singles, one Men's Doubles, two Team's titles and 22 medals in total. He is cons ...
of Austria, both of whom had emigrated to Great Britain.
At times, Leach and the others would entertain the troops by competing.
Playing career
![JohnnyLeach1](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1d/JohnnyLeach1.jpg)
Considered an all-around player, Leach was tall and skinny. He was equally adept on forehand and backhand.
He could play long-range defence, attack from either side of the table, and had an excellent drop shot.
Viktor Barna
Viktor Győző Barna (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.
He won 41 World Championship medals and also won 20 English O ...
called Leach "a great fighter. He never gives up, never loses heart."
Bergmann described Leach in 1950: "of excellent match temperament and fighting spirit this most outstanding of the English-born players is a good all-rounder who specialises in a cast-iron defence and a fine attack, relying to a certain extent on his long reach." Barna credited hard work, not natural ability, for Leach's success.
Under Carrington's tutelage, Leach quickly elevated his play and became England's top player.
By 1946, he achieved a world ranking.
In 1947, he reached the semi-finals of the
first post-war World Championships by beating Carrington in straight sets in the quarterfinals. He then lost a four-set match to eventual champion
Bohumil Váňa
Bohumil Váňa (17 January 1920 in Prague – 4 November 1989 in Prague) was a male international table tennis player from Czechoslovakia.
Table tennis career
From 1935 to 1955 he won an incredible 30 medals in singles, doubles, and team events ...
of Czechoslovakia.
In doubles, Leach and Carrington lost in the finals to Váňa and
Adolf Slar
Adolf (also spelt Adolph or Adolphe, Adolfo and when Latinisation (literature), Latinised Adolphus) is a given name used in German language, German-speaking countries, Scandinavia, the Netherlands and Flanders, France, Italy, Spain, Portugal, L ...
.
The following year, Leach reached the final sixteen of
the World Championships before losing a five-set match to France's
Guy Amouretti.
Leach faced a tough draw in the
1949 World Championships in Stockholm where he beat
Ferenc Sidó
Ferenc Sidó (18 April 1923 in Pata – 6 February 1998 in Budapest) was an ethnic Hungarian international table tennis player from Slovakia.
Table tennis career
From 1947 to 1961 he won 26 medals in singles, doubles, and team events in the Wor ...
,
Dick Miles
Richard Theodore Miles (June 12, 1925 – October 12, 2010) was an American table tennis player who won 10 national championships between 1945 and 1962, more than any other player. After his playing career ended, Miles wrote an instructional g ...
, and
Ferenc Soos
Ferenc Soos is a male former international table tennis player from Hungary.
Table tennis career
He won twelve medals in singles, doubles, and team events in the World Table Tennis Championships in 1936 to 1950.
The twelve World Championship me ...
en route to the final. There he faced two-time singles World Champion Váňa, whom he had never beaten.
[ republished in ] Leach won the first set 21–19, but dropped the second 11–21. He rallied to win the third set 21–17, but Váňa took the fourth set 21–14. Leach emerged victorious, winning the fifth set 21–16.
The win made him just the second British-born player to win a singles World Title.
He also made the semi-finals of mixed doubles with
Margaret Franks that year, winning a bronze medal.
Leach's arrival back in the United Kingdom was filmed by
Gaumont British News and shown in cinemas around the country.
He became a household name, appearing on TV to promote the sport, writing a weekly column for ''
News of the World
The ''News of the World'' was a weekly national Tabloid journalism#Red tops, red top Tabloid (newspaper format), tabloid newspaper published every Sunday in the United Kingdom from 1843 to 2011. It was at one time the world's highest-selling En ...
'', and even appearing in the popular ''
Eagle
Eagle is the common name for many large birds of prey of the family Accipitridae. Eagles belong to several groups of genera, some of which are closely related. Most of the 68 species of eagle are from Eurasia and Africa. Outside this area, just ...
'' kid's comic. The "Johnny Leach bat" became Britain's most popular table tennis equipment.
At the
1950 World Championship, Leach lost a hard-fought five-set match to
Michel Haguenauer
Michel Haguenauer (1916–2000), was a male French international table tennis player.
He won a five medals in the team event at the World Table Tennis Championships. In addition he won a bronze medal at the 1939 World Table Tennis Championships ...
of France in the round of 16.
The next year, he regained his singles title by beating Czechoslovakia's
Ivan Andreadis
Ivan Andreadis (3 April 1924 in Prague - 27 October 1992 in Prague) was a Czechoslovak international table tennis player.
Table tennis career
He won several medals in singles, doubles, and team events in the World Table Tennis Championships from ...
in four sets: 16–21, 21–18, 21–18, 21–12.
He also made the semi-finals of doubles with Carrington and mixed doubles with
Diane Rowe
Diane Schöler (née Rowe on 14 April 1933) is a retired table tennis player from England. In 1966 she married German table tennis player Eberhard Schöler, and since then competed for West Germany. From 1951 to 1972 she won several medals in ...
in 1951.
The next year,
Hiroji Satoh
was an international table tennis player from Japan.
Table Tennis career
From 1952 to 1953 he won two medals in the singles and team events in the World Table Tennis Championships and four medals in the Asian Table Tennis Championships. Hiroji ...
revolutionised the sport with a sponge-covered paddle that allowed him to put drastic spin on the ball. Players with the old style hard wood and rubber paddles such as Leach had little chance.
At the
1952 World Championships, Leach was eliminated in the round of 16 in singles by Amouretti.
In doubles, he teamed with Bergmann to make the final against
Norikazu Fujii and
Tadaki Hayashi of Japan. They won the first two sets, but the Japanese team rallied to win the final three sets and the match.
In mixed doubles, Leach and Rowe were the runners-up to Hungary's Sidó and Romania's
Angelica Rozeanu
Angelica Rozeanu (née Adelstein) (15 October 1921 – 21 February 2006) was a Romanian table tennis player of Jewish origin, the most successful female table tennis player in the history of the sport, winning the women's world singles title 6 ye ...
.
Leach tried the new paddles the following year, but found he could not adapt.
He was again eliminated in the round of 16 at the
1953 World Championships, this time by Czechoslovakia's
Frantisek Tokar.
In doubles, Leach and Bergmann again made the final, losing to the Hungarian team of Sidó and
József Kóczián
József Kóczián (4 August 1926 – 10 December 2009) was a Hungarian table tennis player, who won three world championships during his career.
Table tennis career
Following the Second World War, he made his first World Championships appearan ...
in five sets.
In the team competition, Leach, Bergman,
Adrian Haydon
Arthur 'Adrian' Haydon (1911 – 12 September 1973) was a male international table tennis player from England.
Table tennis career
He started playing table tennis aged just 7 years-old. During the 1927-28 season he was world ranked 6. He won f ...
,
Brian Kennedy, and
Aubrey Simons
Aubrey Simons (1921–2014) was a male former international table tennis player from England.
He won a gold medal at the 1953 World Table Tennis Championships in the Swaythling Cup (men's team) event with Richard Bergmann, Adrian Haydon, Jo ...
won the
Swaythling Cup
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 ...
, giving Leach a third World Title.
The team title was the first in Great Britain's history, and, as of 2014, has not been duplicated.
Leach continued to compete at international level, making the World Championships the next four years, but never advancing past the round of 16. He made three more World Championships: 1959 and 1961 in singles and doubles, and 1963 in doubles only.
He retired in 1965, after capturing one last national title the year before, in doubles with
David Creamer
David Creamer (born 9 December 1942) is a former international table tennis player and professional golfer from England.
Table tennis career
Creamer represented England at the 1963 World Table Tennis Championships in the Swaythling Cup (men's ...
.
Leach is one of only eleven players to win at least two individual World Championship titles.
He won 16 World Championship medals in total and he reached the world number one ranking during his career. He was inducted into the
International Table Tennis Federation Hall of Fame in 1997.
Later life
Leach remained active in the sport after his playing days. From 1964 until 1972, he served as the English coach, overseeing multiple European Champions.
In 1964, he became vice-president of the
English Table Tennis Association
Table Tennis England, formerly the English Table Tennis Association, is the national governing body for table tennis in England, responsible for representing, coordinating, administering, marketing and developing the sport. Most of its annual inco ...
(ETTA). Simultaneously, he worked at SW Hancock, a table tennis manufacturer he would eventually buy. In 1988, Leach became the president of the ETTA, a post he held until 2011.
As president, he helped bring the 1994, 1997, and 1998 World Championship events to England.
After his stint as president, Leach was named Honorary Vice-President for life.
He continued to write for ''News of the World'' for 20 years and was a commentator on
ITV
ITV or iTV may refer to:
ITV
*Independent Television (ITV), a British television network, consisting of:
** ITV (TV network), a free-to-air national commercial television network covering the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man, and the Channel Islan ...
and
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
broadcasts.