13 Facts About Ichiro Ogimura

Ichiro Ogimura was a Japanese table tennis player, coach, president of the ITTF and former World No 1 who won 12 World Championship titles during his career.

Ichiro Ogimura's father died when Ogimura was two years old, and his mother often worked too late to take care of him.

Ichiro Ogimura began playing table tennis in April 1948 as a student at Metropolitan Tenth Junior High School, where he was a student.

At the age of 16, Ichiro Ogimura started practicing the sport at the Musashino table tennis hall, run by Hisae Uehara, in Kichijoji, Tokyo.

Ichiro Ogimura later enrolled in the Tokyo Metropolitan University and, in 1953 he transferred on a scholarship to Tengaku Nihon University's Faculty of Arts, Department of Films.

Ichiro Ogimura won the All-Japan National Championships and represented Japan at the World Championships.

Ichiro Ogimura won 12 world titles at the Championships including men's singles in 1954 and 1956, together with 5 consecutive titles in the team competitions.

Ichiro Ogimura got involved in the Japanese Olympic Committee and Japan Table Tennis Association.

Ichiro Ogimura became an executive member of the International Table Tennis Federation in 1973 and president in 1987.

In 1994, Ichiro Ogimura died of lung cancer; he was survived by his wife, a son and two daughters.

Ichiro Ogimura was inducted into the ITTF Hall of Fame in 1997.

Ichiro Ogimura served as the Japanese goodwill ambassador to the United Kingdom in 1954.

Ichiro Ogimura was active in the development of table tennis equipment, designing a shoe especially designed for table tennis for Japanese footwear brand, Koyo Bear.