Viktor Barna

Viktor Barna
Full name	BARNA Victor
Nationality	Hungary England
Medal record Men's table tennis Representing England World Championships 1954 Wembley Doubles 1954 Wembley Mixed Doubles 1953 Bucharest Doubles 1952 Bombay Doubles 1952 Bombay Mixed Doubles 1949 Stockholm Men's Team 1948 Wembley Doubles 1947 Paris Doubles 1947 Paris Mixed Doubles 1939 Cairo Doubles Representing Hungary World Championships 1938 Wembley Singles 1938 Wembley Doubles 1938 Wembley Men's Team 1937 Baden Men's Team 1936 Prague Men's Team 1935 Wembley Singles 1935 Wembley Doubles 1935 Wembley Mixed Doubles 1935 Wembley Men's Team 1934 Paris Singles 1934 Paris Doubles 1934 Paris Mixed Doubles 1934 Paris Men's Team 1933 Baden Singles 1933 Baden Doubles 1933 Baden Mixed Doubles 1933 Baden Men's Team 1932 Prague Singles 1932 Prague Doubles 1932 Prague Mixed Doubles 1932 Prague Men's Team 1931 Budapest Singles 1931 Budapest Doubles 1931 Budapest Mixed Doubles 1931 Budapest Men's Team 1930 Berlin Singles 1930 Berlin Doubles 1930 Berlin Mixed Doubles 1930 Berlin Men's Team 1929 Budapest Doubles 1929 Budapest Men's Team

Viktor Győző Barna (Braun) (24 August 1911, in Budapest, Austria-Hungary – 27 February 1972) was a Hungarian and British champion table tennis player as well as a record five times World Champion.

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.

Writing

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. In 1957 he published the book "How to win at Table Tennis" (London: Pitman) ISBN 978-0-273-41699-9

Halls of fame

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.

See also

• List of table tennis players
• List of select Jewish table tennis players

External links

• Bio, October 2003 at the Wayback Machine (archived July 8, 2004)
• Cigarette card bio
• Jewish Sports bio
• "The Magnificent Magyar", October 2005