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|}} John Alfred Leach MBE (20 November 1922 – 5 June 2014) was a British table tennis 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''. 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 for more than 20 years. He continued to write a column for ''News of the World'' for twenty years and published several books on table tennis. He also worked as a commentator for the BBC and ITV 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. 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 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 broke out.〔 He enlisted, serving with the Royal Air Force in Northern Ireland as a radioman.〔 He was placed in the same squadron as table tennis player and coach Jack Carrington, who began to instruct him, and international-level player Ron Craydon.〔 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 of Hungary and Richard Bergmann of Austria, both of whom had emigrated to Great Britain.〔 At times, Leach and the others would entertain the troops by competing.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Johnny Leach」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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