The next year, Hiroji Satoh revolutionised the sport with a sponge-covered paddle that allowed him to put drastic spin on the ball. Players with the old style hard wood and rubber paddles such as Leach had little chance. At the 1952 World Championships, Leach was eliminated in the round of 16 in singles by Amouretti. In doubles, he teamed with Bergmann to make the final against Norikazu Fujii and Tadaki Hayashi of Japan. They won the first two sets, but the Japanese team rallied to win the final three sets and the match. In mixed doubles, Leach and Rowe were the runners-up to Hungary's Sidó and Romania's Angelica Rozeanu.