Secretary of the Swiss branch of the Swaythling Club International and Honorary Life Member of the Swiss Table Tennis Federation, Anton Lehman passed away on Sunday 3rd September.
Born on Friday 15th March 1946, he was 77 years only, one year earlier he had been diagnosed with terminal cancer.
Alongside his younger brother, Walter, who died several years ago, and his sister Vreni, table tennis started at Elite Berne, the same club as where Reto Bazzi, Deputy President of the Swaythling Club, began his career in 1972.
Anton competed in the highest league in Switzerland, Vreni progressed to represent the national team.
However, there was much more to Anton than being a high-class player. He gained the highest Swiss coaching diploma, became the first table tennis expert at the Swiss Federal Institute of Sport for Youth and Sport and edited a coaching manual.
Most significantly he instigated table tennis as recognised sport in schools and was coach for the Swiss team at 1987 World University Games in Sofia, Bulgaria.
Even after retirement, he was involved with the activities of the Swiss National Olympic Committee and was involved politically in his hometown Ostermundigen.
Recently, colleagues aware of Anton’s illness, at the 2023 Swiss Championships in March designated him to present the Swaythling Club award to the Swiss Champions.
He is survived by Vreni, his wife Loj, 18-year-old son and two stepdaughters.
Condolences to his family, no longer with us but never forgotten; may he rest in peace.
(Photo: courtesy of Reto Bazzi)