TABLE TENNIS
JUNE 27, 2021
The story of table tennis
Table tennis was invented in 1800’s in England by the upper class Victorians. It was created as an adaptation for lawn tennis as a way to continue playing tennis indoor during winter as it was too cold to play outdoor.
At first, table tennis was played on dining tables or billiards tables. Players would set up nets across the table. The British Army in India made their own tables using a row of books for the net and they would play the game using a golf ball.
The game gained popularity very quickly as it was easier to play and didn’t need a big outside space. Then companies started to produce sets for this new sport. The game went by a lot of different names depending on the company that was selling the kit.
Some of the names are : Ping-Pong, Table Tennis, Whiff Waff, Pom-Pom and many other names.
Eventually, Ping Pong and Table Tennis stuck. In 1901 The Ping Pong Association and The Table Tennis Association were formed.
A British manufacturer, J. Jaques & Son Ltd, trademarked the name Ping-Pong worldwide after seeing the game become so popular.
With this action, other manufacturers had to refer to the game as Table Tennis or a different name to avoid infringing on the trademark.
Ping pong got its name from the sounds made when the ball hit the wooden bat were at different pitches.
In 1926, ITTF (International Table Tennis Federation) was founded in Berlin. It was to be named International Ping-Pong Federation but the name had already been registered.
The federation was founded by William Henry from Wymondham along with other representatives from Germany, England, Hungary, Denmark, Sweden, Austria, Czechoslovakia, India and Wales.
ITTF marked the separation of the commercial game (Ping-Pong) and & the sport (table tennis). The two name are used depending on the circumstances : either as a game or sport.
ITTF recognizes six continental table tennis federations :
- African Table Tennis Federation (ATTF) with 51 members
- Asian Table Tennis Union with 45 members
- European Table Tennis Union in Europe with 58 members
- ULTM from Northern America with 4 members and Oceania Table Tennis Federation with a membership
- NATTU from Northern American with 4 members and Oceania Table Tennis Federation with 24 members
The first official World Table Tennis Championship was held in London in 1927 with seven countries took part in the competition. In 1997 the participating countries increased to 101 and today the members of ITTF are over 140 countries.
The game officially became an Olympic sport in 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul, South Korea. The sport is played by around 850 million people around the globe today and is ranked as the sixth most popular game. The story of table tennis still continues to develop from time to time.
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