TABLE TENNIS

an indoor game based on tennis, played with small paddles and a ball bounced on a table
divided by a net.
HISTORY
The history of table tennis (or ping-pong as it is also commonly known) is a long and interesting
sequence of events, which would require a book to do it justice. In this article I'm going to give a
brief overview of the origins of the game, as well as what are generally acknowledged as many
of the important highlights of the game's development.
There is often conflicting information available regarding the early days of table tennis, and
since I am not a historian of merit I'll settle for simply mentioning the differing opinions for
completeness.
Early Origins of Table Tennis/Ping-Pong
12th Century AD - The game of table tennis probably descended from the the game of "Royal
Tennis" (also known as Real Tennis or Court Tennis), which was played in the medieval era.
1880's - Some sources claim that the sport was once known as indoor tennis, and was played in
the early 1880's by British army officers stationed in India and South Africa. These officers are
supposed to have used cigar box lids as paddles, rounded wine bottle corks as balls, and books
for an improvised net.
1880's - The game had become fashionable among the upper classes in England.
1887 - According to the ITTF website, the first use of the name "Table Tennis" appeared on a
board and dice game made by J.H.Singer of New York.
1890 - The earliest existing evidence of a table tennis game is a set made by David Foster,
patented in England, which included table versions of Lawn Tennis, Cricket and Football.
1891 - John Jacques of London introduce their "Gossima" game, which used drum-type paddles,
a 50mm web wrapped cork ball, and a 30cm high net.
1890's - By this time, several patents with basic rules had been registered.
1890's - Parker Brothers begin making an indoor tennis kit which included a portable net, a small
ball covered in netting, and paddles.
1900 - Englishman James Gibb is credited with bringing hollow celluloid balls back to England
from the USA, although some other sources claim they were plastic balls. Previously most balls
were solid rubber or cork, often covered in material. Some sources also credit Gibb with
inventing the name "ping pong", which was supposed to have been derived from the sound of the
ball bouncing off the drum battledores (paddles), each of which had a different sound.
1901 - John Jacques register "Ping Pong" as a trade name in England. The American rights to the
name are sold to Parker Brothers.
1901 - On the 12th December 1901, "The Table Tennis Association" is formed in England. Four
days later, "The Ping Pong Association" is also formed in England.
1901 - Table tennis is first brought to China via western settlements. (Guide note - Thanks guys -
now look what you've done!)
1902 - Englishman E.C.Goode is credited with putting pebbled rubber on his wooden blade,
allowing him to put more spin on the ball. This is the forerunner of the ordinary pimpled rubber
racket, which will dominate table tennis until 1952.
1903 - On the 1st May 1903, "The Table Tennis Association" and "The Ping Pong Association"
amalgamate, forming "The United Table Tennis and Ping Pong Association". This association
will later revert its name to "The Table Tennis Association", before becoming defunct in 1904.
1920's - 1950's - Classic Hard Bat Era - Europe Dominates the Sport
1920's - In the early 1920's the game began to revive in England and Europe.
1922 - "The Table Tennis Association" is reconstituted, with the name "English Table Tennis
Association" being adopted in 1927.
1926 - The International Table Tennis Federation is formed.
1926-1931 - Maria Mednyanszky of Hungary wins the Women's Singles event at the World
Championships five times in a row.
1930-1935 - Victor Barna of Hungary wins five of the six Men's Singles events at the World
Championships (and was runner up in 1931).
1935 - The American Ping Pong Association, US Amateur Table Tennis Association, and
National Table Tennis Association merge to form the US Table Tennis Association (which was
renamed USA Table Tennis in 1994).
1936 - Repainted tables (which made the playing surface very slow) and a high net (6 inches
high) combine to make attacking play very difficult at the World Championships in Prague,
Czechoslovakia. This results in the longest rally ever in a World Championships taking place,
lasting over two hours.
1938 - The ITTF lowers the net from 6 inches to 6 inches, and bans the fingerspin serves which
had been used with devasting effect by American players.
1940-1946 - No World Championships held due to World War II.
1950-1955 Angelica Rozeanu-Adelstein of Romania wins six Women's Singles titles in a row at
the World Championships. Since her last title win in 1955, every World Champion in Women's
Singles has been an Asian player.
1950's - 1970's - Sponge Bat Era, Rise of Japan and China
1952 - Hiroji Satoh of Japan becomes notorious for his use of a wooden racket covered in thick
foam sponge rubber, which produces much more speed and spin than conventional pimpled
rubber rackets. He wins the 1952 World Championships over Jozsef Koczian of Hungary, and
begins a period of Asian male domination in the sport which will last until Sweden rises to
supremacy from 1989 into the early 1990's.
1957 - The World Championships changes to a biennial event (once every two years), due to the
logistics of hosting an event of such size, and difficulty in finding suitable venues.
1958 - The first European Championships is conducted in Budapest, Hungary, and sees the
USSR's debut in international table tennis.
1959-1960 - The ITTF standardizes the thickness of ordinary pimpled rubber and sponge rubber.

1960's - In the early 1960's, the loop drive was invented and become popular around the world.
1960's - From around 1965 to 1971, China under the rule of Ma Tse-Tung disappears from world
table tennis events.
1961-1965 - Zhuang Zedong of China wins 3 Men's Singles titles in a row at the World
Championships, each time over compatriot Li Furong.
1960's - In the early 1960's, Xhang Xi Lin of China uses a "Yin-Yan" bat with normal rubber on
one side, and long pimples on the other - the first recorded instance of successful combination
bat play.
1971 - China returns to International Competition at the 1971 World Championships.
1971 - The US Table Tennis Team takes a "Ping-Pong Diplomacy" trip to China, in a world first
effort to use sport to establish and improve diplomatic relations.
1971 - Jean-Paul Weber of France uses the first anti-spin rubber in the World Championships in
Nagoya, Japan, and enjoys some success with its use.
1971 - The first Commonwealth Championships are held in Singapore
1970's - 2000's - the Age of Speed Glue & Technology
1970's - Table tennis players discover that using bicycle tyre repair glue to put rubber on a blade
dramatically increases the speed and spin that can be produced. This discovery is often credited
to Dragutin Surbek of Yugoslavia, and Tibor Klampar of Hungary. This discovery is called speed
glue.
1970's-1989 - China is the dominant force in both men's and women's events on the world scene,
winning multiple events at all world championships.
1980 - John Hilton of England wins the European Championships using a combination bat of
normal rubber and antispin, twiddling the racket and playing aggressively.
1980 - The first World Cup event is held in Hong Kong.
1982 - The initial World Veteran's Championships is conducted in Gothenburg, Sweden.
1980's - In 1985, the two color rule is adopted to reduce the effectiveness of combination rackets.
1988 - Table Tennis becomes an Olympic sport, in Seoul, South Korea.
1989-1993 - Sweden breaks the Chinese stranglehold in Men's World Championships, winning
the 1989, 1991, and 1993 Teams Events, and producing the 1989 and 1991 World Men's
Champions (Jan-Ove Waldner and Jorgen Persson respectively). China continues its dominance
in female ranks.
1995-present - China reasserts its control over the Mens Team and Mens Singles events at the
World Championships.
1997 - Jan-Ove Waldner wins the Mens Singles title at the World Championships for the second
time, this time without the loss of a single game!
2000 - A brief blip in the Chinese men's dominance occurs when the aging Swedish trio of Jan-
Ove Waldner, Jorgen Persson and Peter Karlsson combine to steal the Mens Team title in a
thrilling final.
2000 - The ITTF increases the ball diameter to 40mm.
2001 - The ITTF changes the scoring system, moving to 11 point games, and using a best of 5
games or best of 7 games match.
2002 - Table Tennis becomes a Commonwealth Games Sport, at Manchester, England.
2003 - Werner Schlager of Austria breaks the Chinese stranglehold on the Men's Singles World
Championship title, saving several match points along the way against opponents in Wang Liqin
and Kong Linghui. He meets Joo Se Hyuk of South Korea in the final - Joo is the first defensive
player to make the Mens Singles final since the Eberhard Scholer of Germany in 1969 (Scholer
also lost in his final, to Japan's Shigeo Itoh).
2000's - In the early 2000's, frictionless long pimples become popular among many players, in an
attempt to negate the the power and spin produced by modern technology and speed glue.
2006 - The intended banning of frictionless long pips and speed glues with toxic organic solvents
is announced by the ITTF.
2007 - The ITTF withdraws its approval of all table tennis glues, following a health incident
involving a speed glue user in Japan.
2008 - The use of speed glues with illegal VOCs is banned for all ITTF junior competitions as of
January 1. Machines that test for illegal VOCs are introduced to check for rules infractions.
SKILLS
Capitalizing on the opportunities to master tennis techniques and skills is essential to the
advancement of tennis player's game. In this sport, every tennis athlete develops a unique style of
game play that empowers his or her strengths.
The development of such strengths are vital to the progression of an athlete's game, but at times
these strengths can expose weaknesses when playing experienced competitive athletes in the
game of tennis.
Experienced competitive athletes are crafty in recognizing faults in an opponent's tennis
techniques and will take advantage of the opportunities to dominate the situation.
Typically, this frustrates defeated players often resulting personal displays of disappointment and
confusion. No one likes to lose, so everyone can understand an athlete's disappointment in a loss.
On the other hand, confusion can develop for a number of reasons. This is where serious
competitors gravitate back to fundamental tennis techniques and skills in an effort to improve on
their weaknesses as well as sharpen their strengths.
Mastering the basic tennis techniques, builds a solid tennis foundation. Let's compare this fact to
a house. All houses are built on a foundation.
The foundation is the base that maintains the structure of the house. Without a foundation a
house is not built. If anything alters the foundation, the structure weakens and at times fails to
maintain its stability. At this point repairs are required to stabilize the foundation and strengthen
the structure.
Similarly, the sport of tennis is built on a foundation of basic techniques and skills. Mastering
these basic tennis techniques and skills is one of the first steps to succeeding in the sport.
Without the foundation of these fundamentals, an athlete generally defaults to failure in the game
of tennis. If any of these basic tennis techniques and skills are not tuned up regularly, an athlete's
game is vulnerable against a strong competitor. I think you get the point.
To build a solid foundation, a player must practice regularly and strive to master six fundamental
tennis strokes. Every point played will require one, two, or all of these strokes throughout a
game, set, or match.
These six fundamental tennis strokes are the essential tennis techniques and skills necessary to
succeed in the game of tennis.
The Six Fundamental Tennis Strokes
Tennis Forehand: The tennis forehand is the 'meat and potatoes', or the 'money shot' for the
majority of tennis athletes. It is not necessarily the easiest stroke to learn, but it is the most
natural. To visualize a tennis forehand, picture this for a moment.

Lets assume you are left-handed. If you are playing tennis and an opponent returns a tennis ball
directly to your body, your natural instincts would be to step to your right and hit it back from the
left side of your body. However, if you are right-handed and an opponent returns a tennis ball
directly to your body, your natural instincts would be to step to your left and hit it back from the
right side of your body. The majority of tennis players prefer to execute a forehand more than
any other fundamental tennis stroke. In fact, the majority of tennis strokes executed in a game,
set, or match are forehands.

Tennis Backhand: The tennis backhand is executed from the side opposite of the forehand side.
So if you are right-handed, your backhand is executed from the left side of your body and if you
are left-handed, your backhand is executed from the right side of your body. In order to execute a
tennis backhand, you must bring your natural hitting hand around your body before hitting the
tennis ball. The tennis backhand may seem awkward at first, but as you practice and familiarize
yourself with this stroke it will become a welcomed alternative to the foundation of your tennis
techniques and skills.
Tennis Serve: The tennis serve initiates every point. The tennis player that is serving is termed
the server and the other tennis player is termed the receiver. By rule, you can opt to serve anyway
you see fit, it is your choice. Technically though, competitive tennis players achieve and maintain
the most effective results by tossing the ball straight up high above the head while rotating the
tennis racquet with a full motion swing aiming to strike the ball to the diagonal service area on
the opposite end of the tennis court.
Tennis Lob: Uniquely termed in tennis, the lob is mainly used as a defensive technique to turn
the momentum of a point into an offensive play. Did that make sense? Let me attempt to clarify.
What is a lob? A lob is a high arching shot with additional hang time that is initiated by a
forehand, backhand, or at times a volley. With the lob technique, a tennis competitor has the
ability to change the course of a point and keep an opponent off balance during game play.
As a competitor, your goal is to win each an every point. From time to time tennis athletes find
themselves out of position or vulnerable during game play. This is when the lob technique comes
in handy and can change the direction of that point.
By launching a lob with precision and excellence, a competitor can now gain and take control of
that point. The presence of the lob keeps an opponent guessing instead anticipating the
predictable forehand or backhand ground strokes.
Master the lob as a defensive and offensive tennis technique to gain an advantage. In other
words, lob at will to win a point.
Tennis Overhead: Similar to a serve, the overhead tennis technique is designed to earn points by
striking the tennis ball as it floats in the air over the head to the forehand or backhand side of a
tennis athlete's body. Generally, this is the response to an unsuccessful lob attempt where the
tennis competitor that initiated the lob pays dearly.
Think of this performance as a slam dunk in basketball or a spike in volleyball where tennis
athletes have deliberately term this action as an overhead smash or smash for short. A great
overhead smash technique generates an intimidating dominating effect as it can demoralize and
grant you an advantage over a frustrated opponent.
Tennis Volley: Simply put, the volley is a short punch technique with little or no back swing from
a tennis athlete's forehand or backhand side. If you are the type of player who enjoys going on
the attack to instigate fast-paced action, the volley is probably one if not your favorite tennis skill
that intensifies your game. Other than a serve or an overhead, every shot a player executes before
the ball bounces on the court is considered a volley. This skill is frequently attempted as a
reaction to an out-of-position jam where a tennis athlete is unable to play the bounce. Most of the
time though, the volley is habitually played as an attack approach near the net where a skilled
tennis athlete has considerable options to win points due to the ease of angling shots and clearing
the net.As stated earlier, every point played will require one, two, and at times all these
fundamental tennis strokes throughout a game, set, or match. Tune them up regularly to advance
your game and to reduce negative plays. Deviate from this action and chances are you will pay
the price especially in competitive tennis tournaments.

RULES
ADDING UP THE POINTS
The winner of a match is the one who wins the first THREE or FOUR games (according to the
competition)
A game consists of 11 points
There must be a gap of at least two points between opponents
If the score is 10-10, the game goes in to extra play until one of the players has gained a lead of
2 points
The point goes to the player who successfully ends a rally
The score of the server is always announced first

SCORING
A player scores a point when his opponent commits one of the following errors: He isn't able to
return the ball.
He returns the ball outside the opposite side of the table.
He lets the ball bounce more than once in his own court before returning it.
He touches the ball several times successively.
He strikes the ball in volley (without it bouncing on the table) above his side of the table.
He moves the table during play.
He touches the net or a post.
His free hand touches the table.
He makes a bad service (see service)

RULES OF THE GAME:

If the ball touches the table surface, it is declared in
If it touches the side of the table, it is declared out
A player is not allowed to strike the ball in volley, unless the opponent's ball leaves the table and
I strike the ball in volley behind the table, in which case the point would be given to me.

SERVICE
The initial order of serving is decided by lot. Service changes every 2 points, except during
periods of extra play where it changes each time. Service must adhere to the following rules :
The ball rests freely on the open palm of the hand.
The hand holding the ball must be above the level of the table.
The ball should be projected upwards (at least 16 cm)
The ball should be struck when it is falling and behind the table.
The ball should first bounce in one's court, then in the opponent's court.
Service can be diagonal and also in a straight line in singles
Service can be replayed when:
The ball touches the net or its supporting posts before touching the opponent's court (''let''
service)
The ball touches the net then is struck in volley by the opponent without it touching his court.
The receiver was not ready at the time of service.

DOUBLES
 Service must be diagonal, from the right half court (marked by a white line) to the opponent's
right half court After that, play can cover the whole table, but each partner must take his turn.

Service changeover in Doubles:

A1 serves to B1 (2 services),
B1 then serves to A2 (2 services),
A2 then serves to B2 ,
B2 serves to A1 and continuing in this way for every 2 services. Following service, each player
takes turns to return the ball.
In addition to the aforementioned cases in singles, a doubles team scores a point when its
doubles opponents make one of the following errors :
At service, the player lets the ball bounce on the left half court, on either side of the court.
A player strikes the ball when it is not his turn.
Obstruction is not an acceptable claim for players of the same doubles team.

EQUIPMENTS
Changing the rubber
Changing the rubber on a paddle can be daunting at first, but with a little caution it is not hard at
all. If replacing rubber on an existing paddle, first carefully work off the bottom edge of the
rubber from the blade. When enough rubber has been pulled off, grip it tightly and slowly peel
off the rubber, bottom first. If the grip is stubborn, use a bit of acetone or similar chemical to
dissolve the glue. Next, prepare the surface by picking off any little bit of sponge or rubber, and
sanding the surface down (if it has glue on it) to a smooth finish. Remove the rubber from its
protective packaging, and place it face down on a piece of clean plastic. (note on adhesives:
specially made paddle glue, or "chack", is best for applying rubber to a blade. However, rubber
cement works almost as well. DO NOT use super glue, white glue, or similar types of adhesives.)
Apply a thin coat of glue to the blade face, let dry. Brush glue in a thin coat over the underside of
the rubber sheet. Wait for the glue to dry. Then apply another coat of glue over it. After applying
the second coat, place the rubber onto the blade, starting with the bottom(the area with the logo
and other information) first, then slowly work your way up to the top of the paddle. Place this
paddle, new rubber side on top, on the edge of a table or other flat surface so only the racket face
touches the surface and not the handle. Use a cylinder (a long can, clean rolling pin, etc) to roll
any bubbles out from under the rubber. Finally, place a protective sheet on the rubber with heavy
flat objects such as books over it.
After the glue has dried, turn the racket upside down (so the newly applied rubber faces
downwards), and use a new razor to score the rubber around the blade. Then use the other side of
the razor to completely cut through the rubber through the score (be sure to protect whatever
surface your are working on!). As an alternative, you can use a sharp pair of scissors to remove
the excess rubber, but be sure not to accidentally cut the blade as well.
Table Tennis Equipment
Aside from a racket, ball and table very little equipment is needed for table tennis, making it one
of the worlds most popular recreational sports.

Racket also called bats or paddles, "racket" is the official ITTF term for the instrument used to
hit the ball. Table tennis rackets are made of plywood and covered in pimpled or inverted rubber
with a thin layer of sponge in between. The combination of sponge, pimpled rubber and plywood
allows the ball to travel at maximum speed and is conducive to adding spin to the ball, although
many players today prefer inverted rubber because it is resistant to spins, allowing for effective
defensive shots. Most rackets have a long handle but the Japanese racket has a raised handle and
the Chinese racket a much shortened handle, allowing for varying ways of gripping the racket.
Ping Pong ball international regulations require a table tennis ball to be 40 mm in diameter and
made from hollow celluloid. The required diameter was changed from 38 mm in 2003 in an
attempt to slow the ball down, causing controversy amongst some Chinese players who are
famed for their ability to spin the ball so fast, a return is impossible. The colour of the ball used
depends upon the colour of the table but is usually the colour that stands out most effectively
against the table. The quality of ball is denoted by a number of stars: one, two or three. Three star
balls are the most expensive but are very good quality and will last a lot longer than balls with
one star.

Table official table tennis tables are 2.74 m in length, 1.525 m wide and 0.7 m high. Tables are
made from a manufactured timber and covered in a smooth coating to reduce friction, allowing
the ball to have maximum bounce. A white line borders the table and divides it lengthwise,
marking the right hand and left hand half of each side.
Net the net stretches across the middle of the table and should be 15.25 cm high.

Clothing there is no specific uniform required for table tennis, although in official competitions
teams will wear clothes representative of their countries colors. Loose, non-reflective clothing is
recommended and footwear should allow good ankle control and quick movements, as opposed
to trainers that are specifically designed for running.