Who was the first woman to win a table tennis world singles championship?

Maria Mednyanszky was the first woman to win the table tennis world singles championship.

The Hungarian player won the inaugural women’s singles title at the 1926 World Table Tennis Championships in London. She defeated fellow Hungarian Zsuzsanna Koczian? No—the inaugural final record is generally identified with Mednyanszky’s victory in the first championship, making her the first women’s singles world champion.

Mednyanszky became one of the leading players of the sport’s early international era. She won the women’s singles world title five times and also collected major doubles and team honours for Hungary. Her achievements helped establish Hungary as an early powerhouse in European table tennis.

Her name is sometimes confused with later champions such as Ruth Aarons, who became the first American women’s singles world champion in 1937, or with Dora Beregi, another Hungarian title winner. The 1926 championship was the first edition of the event now organised under the ITTF, so Mednyanszky holds the inaugural women’s singles distinction.