was one of the best table tennis players

Table tennis

Table tennis, also known as ping-pong, is a sport in which two or four players hit a lightweight, hollow ball back and forth using table tennis rackets. The game takes place on a hard table divided by a net...

 worldwide from 1965 to 1979.

In Stockholm

Stockholm

Stockholm is the capital and the largest city of Sweden and constitutes the most populated urban area in Scandinavia. Stockholm is the most populous city in Sweden, with a population of 851,155 in the municipality , 1.37 million in the urban area , and around 2.1 million in the metropolitan area...

 1967 Nobuhiko Hasegawa won three titles in men's Single, men's team and mixed-double. In 1969 in Munich

Munich

Munich The city's motto is "" . Before 2006, it was "Weltstadt mit Herz" . Its native name, , is derived from the Old High German Munichen, meaning "by the monks' place". The city's name derives from the monks of the Benedictine order who founded the city; hence the monk depicted on the city's coat...

 he won the men's team event (with Shigeo Itoh

Shigeo Itoh

Shigeo Itoh is a male former table tennis player from Japan. From 1967 to 1975 he won several medals in singles, doubles, and team events in the World Table Tennis Championships and in the Asian Table Tennis Championships.-References:...

 and Mitsuru Kohno) against the German team (Eberhard Schöler, Bernt Jansen, Wilfried Lieck) with the result of 5:3. But though he was World Champion at that time he lost against Bernt Jansen and Eberhard Schöler.

Nobuhiko Hasegawa was a famous exponent of heavy topspin forehand attack, combined with lob defence. He used a modified shakehands grip with the index finger pointing down the center of the blade. This made his backhand a little awkward for fast attack, so even though a shakehander his tactics were similar to the Japanese penholders with wonderful footwork. The photo at right shows him making a typical lob or fishing stroke on his backhand.

Nobuhiko Hasegawa, sometimes called 'Popeye' because of his huge right biceps, was born in Seto

Seto, Aichi

is a city located in Aichi, Japan. It is located about 35 minutes from Nagoya by way of the Meitetsu Seto Line.As of April 1, 2011, the city has an estimated population of 133,121, with a household number of 53,253, and the density of 1,192.63 persons per km². The total area is 111.62 km².-...

, Aichi Prefecture

Aichi Prefecture

is a prefecture of Japan located in the Chūbu region. The region of Aichi is also known as the Tōkai region. The capital is Nagoya. It is the focus of the Chūkyō Metropolitan Area.- History :...

, Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

, and died in Kiryu

Kiryu, Gunma

is a city in Gunma, Japan, near the cities of Ōta and Ashikaga. Incorporated on March 1, 1921, Kiryū is considered both a city and part of the Greater Tokyo Metropolitan Area, although it is still widely thought of as a rural area...

, Gunma Prefecture

Gunma Prefecture

is a prefecture of Japan located in the northwest corner of the Kantō region on Honshu island. Its capital is Maebashi.- History :The remains of a Paleolithic man were found at Iwajuku, Gunma Prefecture, in the early 20th century and there is a public museum there.Japan was without horses until...

.

Rankings

• Table tennis World Championships
  • 1967 in Stockholm
    • World Champion Men's Singles
    • World Champion Men's Team
    • World Champion Mixed Double (with Noriko Yamanaka)
    • 3rd place Men's Double (with Mitsuru Kohno)
  • 1969 in Munich
    Munich
    Munich The city's motto is "" . Before 2006, it was "Weltstadt mit Herz" . Its native name, , is derived from the Old High German Munichen, meaning "by the monks' place". The city's name derives from the monks of the Benedictine order who founded the city; hence the monk depicted on the city's coat...
    
    
    • World Champion Men's Team
    • World Champion Mixed Double (with Yasuko Konno)
    • 2nd place Men's Double (with Tokio Tasaka)
  • 1971 in Nagoya
    • 2nd place Men's Team
    • 2place Men's Double (with Tokio Tasaka)
  • 1973 in Sarajevo
    Sarajevo
    Sarajevo |Bosnia]], surrounded by the Dinaric Alps and situated along the Miljacka River in the heart of Southeastern Europe and the Balkans....
    
    
    • 3rd place Men's Team