Table Tennis

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Butterfly Carlos Chiu Table Tennis Racket
Table Tennis - also known as ping pong - is, as the name suggests, an indoor game with similarities to lawn tennis: the players bat a ball back and forth over a net. Although initially designed as a bit of fun it has since grown to be one of the most widely played sports in the world - this is due in part to the game's massive popularity in Asia. Where did it all begin?

History

Table tennis began as a jolly game played mainly after dinner in late 19th century England. It was particularly popular with the wealthy, the upper classes and army officers. The game was normally informal with no proper equipment: a pile of books might form the "net" over which a cork might be hit with a box top. In many ways it resembled an adult version of children using jumpers for goalposts in a game of football.

Various commercial versions of the game were available to buy under an assortment of names, however the game's real breakthrough came in the first years of the 20th century when one James Gibb brought the concept of the hollow plastic ball back from the US.

Gibb is also credited with devising the name ping pong, a reference to the sound made by the ball as it passes back and forth. (Those of us of a certain age may remember Pong, one of the first video games available to play at home, with its incessant ping-pong beepng.)

The name Ping Pong was registered as a trademark by John Jaques & Son in 1901. They later sold the name to Parker Bros of the US. The game declined in popularity briefly but recovered in the 1920s and since then has never looked back.

The modern racket (or bat or paddle) with its dimpled rubber surface was invented over a hundred years ago in 1903 and the Table Tennis Association was formed in England in 1921. In 1926 the game officially went international with the formation of the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) and 1927 saw the first world championship. In 1988 table tennis became an Olympic sport.

The ITTF has recently introduced a number of rule changes to try and boost the popularity of table tennis as a spectator sport. These include larger balls and a scoring system based on an 11 point game rather than the more traditional 21 point rules.

The majority of table tennis players today still treat the game as a social occasion rather than a serious sport. However for those who do want to play more seriously or even compete at professional level there is a huge asortment of high-tech equipment available to buy. For those who really want to train you can even buy a robot ping pong machine that will serve balls to you.

As so often happens, the history of table tennis has gone full circle. What began as an indoor alternative to true tennis is becoming increasingly popular as an outdoor game. Some players also prefer not to use the modern high-tech sponge rubber rackets but prefer to play the older hard bat style of the game.