Mitsuru Kono

Mitsuru Kōno ( Japanese 河野 満 , Kōno Mitsuru ; born August 13, 1946 ) is a former table tennis player from Japan . In 1977 he became world champion in singles.

Success in Asia

Kōno won the Japanese national championship three times in a row from 1975 to 1977. Between 1967 and 1976 he took part in the championships of Asia six times. Here he won singles and doubles in 1978, where he won in 1972, 1976 and 1978.

World championships

From 1967 to 1977 Kōno was represented at six world championships .

• In 1967 in Stockholm he was vice world champion in singles behind Nobuhiko Hasegawa and won gold with the Japanese team.
• In Munich 1969 he was a member of the Japanese team, which won the gold medal through a 5-3 win over Germany. He inflicted the only defeat in the team fights on the top German player Eberhard Schöler . In mixed he won the silver medal with Saeko Hirota .
• In Nagoya 1971, the Japanese team lost with Kono against the first time again participating Chinese to Zhuang Zedong and Li Furong and won silver.
• 1973 in Sarajevo he finished 3rd with the team
• In Calcutta in 1975 he won the bronze medal in the individual competition behind István Jónyer and Antun Stipančić .
• He achieved his greatest success in 1977 in Birmingham when he defeated the Chinese Guo Yuehua in the final and became world champion.

In November 1977, Kōno announced his retirement from competitive sports.

Results from the ITTF database

Association	event	year	place	country	singles	Double	Mixed	team
JPN	Asian Championship ATTU	1976	Pyongyang	PRK	last 16	gold		2
JPN	Asian Championship ATTU	1974	Yokohama	JPN	Semifinals	gold	gold	2
JPN	Asian Championship ATTU	1972	Beijing	CHN	Quarter finals	gold	silver	1
JPN	Asian Championship TTFA	1970	Nagoya	JPN	Quarter finals	Semifinals		1
JPN	Asian Championship TTFA	1968	Jakarta	INA	gold	silver	gold	1
JPN	Asian Championship TTFA	1967	Singapore	SIN	silver	gold		1
JPN	Asian Games	1974	Tehran	IRI	silver	gold	Semifinals	2
JPN	World Championship	1977	Birmingham	CLOSELY	gold	last 16	Quarter finals	2
JPN	World Championship	1975	Calcutta	IND	Semifinals	last 32	last 32	6th
JPN	World Championship	1973	Sarajevo	YUG	last 16	last 16	Quarter finals	3
JPN	World Championship	1971	Nagoya	JPN	last 16	Quarter finals	Quarter finals	2
JPN	World Championship	1969	Munich	FRG	last 32	Semifinals	silver	1
JPN	World Championship	1967	Stockholm	SWE	silver	Semifinals	last 16	1

swell

• Nobuhiko Hasegawa: Japan's Championships 1977 , DTS magazine , 1978/9 pp. 12-14

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ITTF statistics (accessed on September 10, 2011)