Viktor Barna won 32 World Championship medals, among them 23 gold, 6 silver, and 3 bronze. His championships include five Singles events, eight Doubles, three Mixed-Doubles, and seven Team titles. He has been described by Sir Ivor Montagu, president of the International Table Tennis Federation (1926 to 1967), as “the greatest table tennis player who ever lived.”

In 1929, Barna was a member of the Hungarian National Team that won the Swaythling Cup, the award presented in recognition of the Men’s World Team Table Tennis Championship. One year later, he won the first of his five World Singles Championships.

Barna’s greatest performance came in February 1935 at the World Championships in Wembley, England. He captured the World Singles, the Doubles with Miklos Szabados, and Mixed-Doubles with Anna Sipos. Later that year, his Hungarian Team was again awarded the Swaythling Cup.

In May, 1935, Barna’s championship singles career was effectively ended when his right playing arm was severely injured in an auto accident. He nonetheless managed to win the World Doubles title with England’s Richard Bergmann in 1939.

All of Barna’s Double crowns, 1929 through 1935, and 1939, were won with Miklos Szabados as his playing partner, with the exceptions of his teaming with Sandor Glanz in 1933 and Bergmann in 1939.