Toshiaki Tanaka

Toshiaki Tanaka, 1955.

Toshiaki Tanaka ( Japanese 田中 利明 , Tanaka Toshiaki ; * February 24, 1935 , † February 6, 1998 ) was a Japanese table tennis player . He became world champion five times.

World championships

In 1954 Tanaka finished second in the individual at the Japanese Championships . However, he has not yet been nominated for the World Cup this year. In 1956 he became the Japanese champion in singles and doubles.

But he immediately won the singles title at the 1955 World Cup by defeating the Yugoslav Žarko Dolinar with 3-0 sets in the final. He also won gold with the Japanese team. In mixed he came third with Shizuka Narahara .

At the 1956 World Cup , he had to admit defeat to his compatriot Ichirō Ogimura 2: 3 in the men's singles final . With the team he defended the world title. He scored an important point in the semifinals against the team from Romania: Although he was already 14:20 behind in the decisive set against Matei Gantner (later coach at Borussia Düsseldorf ), he still won this match.

In 1957 Tanaka retaliated 3-0 in the final against Ichirō Ogimura . This was the second time he became individual world champion. With the Japanese team, he won the third gold medal in a row. In doubles he won silver with Ichirō Ogimura.

In 1997 Tanaka was inducted into the ITTF Hall of Fame .

Results from the ITTF database

Association	event	year	place	country	singles	Double	Mixed	team
JPN	Asian Games	1958	Tokyo	JPN			silver	2
JPN	World Championship	1957	Stockholm	SWE	gold	silver	Quarter finals	1
JPN	World Championship	1956	Tokyo	JPN	silver	Semifinals	Quarter finals	1
JPN	World Championship	1955	Utrecht	NED	gold	last 64	Semifinals	1

swell

• Mourning for Toshiaki Tanaka , DTS magazine , 1998/3 p. 11

Individual evidence

1. ↑ DTS magazine , 1956/24 page 1
2. ↑ DTS magazine , 1997/9 page 15
3. ^ Toshiaki Tanaka results from the ITTF database on ittf.com (accessed September 15, 2011)