was an international

table tennis Table tennis (also known as ping-pong) is a racket sport derived from tennis but distinguished by its playing surface being atop a stationary table, rather than the Tennis court, court on which players stand. Either individually or in teams of ...

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 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 ...

and four medals in the

Asian Table Tennis Championships The Asian Table Tennis Championships is a biennial table tennis tournament that the International Table Tennis Federation regards as a continental championship. From 1952 to 1972, the tournament was organized by the Table Tennis Federation of Asi ...

. Hiroji was the first person to use a sponge on his racket, a common feature of all modern table tennis rackets. Although, at the time it may have seemed as though this technological advancement gave him an unfair advantage, it has truly brought table tennis into the modern age and as the

Olympic sport Olympic sports are sports that are contested in the Summer Olympic Games and Winter Olympic Games. The 2024 Summer Olympics included 32 sports; the 2022 Winter Olympics included seven sports. Each Olympic sport is represented at the Internation ...

it would become. He won

bronze medal A bronze medal in sports and other similar areas involving competition is a medal made of bronze awarded to the third-place finisher of contests or competitions such as the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, etc. The outright winner receives ...

in the team event at the

1952 World Table Tennis Championships The 1952 World Table tennis, Table Tennis Championships were held in Mumbai, Bombay from 1 to 10 February 1952.The 1952 World Championships were marked by the arrival of the Japanese as a Table Tennis force on the world scene. In another first t ...

and a

gold medal A gold medal is a medal awarded for highest achievement in a non-military field. Its name derives from the use of at least a fraction of gold in form of plating or alloying in its manufacture. Since the eighteenth century, gold medals have b ...

in the men's singles at the

References

External links

*
Spongers Seldom Chisel
on Sports Illustrated Japanese male table tennis players Sportspeople from Aomori (city) 1925 births 2000 deaths 20th-century Japanese sportsmen {{Japan-tabletennis-bio-stub

Table tennis career

See also

References

External links