Mária Mednyánszky

Mária Mednyánszky (7 April 1901 Budapest – 22 December 1978 also Budapest) was a Hungarian table tennis star who became the first official women's world champion winning the single event gold medal in the first edition of the World Table Tennis Championships, held in 1926 at London. She went on to win the title for five successive years and won a further 18 world titles. She was awarded the Golden Order of the Hungarian People's Republic in 1976, Hungary's highest sporting honour.