A Brief History of Table Tennis

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. This article provides 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 all differing opinions
are presented here 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.

 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 (6¾ 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 6¾ 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 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.

Court Dimension
Equipment in Table Tennis
Basic Skills That are Needed in Table Tennis
1. Forehand and Backhand Strokes
Of all the different types of strokes and shots you'll learn in the game of tennis, you'll hit more forehand and
backhand strokes than anything else. Without taking the time to develop each of these critical strokes, your
game really can't even get off the ground. Practice working on every nuance of the entire movement, from the
backswing to the point of contact to the follow-through. Make forehand and backhand strokes a regular part
of your practice sessions, whether you're hitting around with a partner or using a practice wall. You should
work toward developing correct form and proper swing mechanics for each stroke from virtually any position
on the court.
 2. The Serve
The serve is absolutely critical because it's the only point that you can fully initiate and control. There are
several small movements that work together to form a tennis serve, so you'll need to focus on perfecting each
of these movements until you're able to do them instinctively. Work on mastering the ball toss, developing a
consistent point of contact, and properly timing each movement. Once you've put them all together, you can
then work on sharpening the finer points of your technique.
3. Footwork
Tennis is a game that basically requires constant movement from the time the ball is served until the point is
won. Learning the basics of footwork such as the split-step and side shuffle will help you get around efficiently
on the court without wasting time or energy. Regularly incorporate footwork drills into your basic training
regimen so you can stay sharp and agile while on the court.
4. Anticipation
Some of the best players in the world are masters of anticipation; it almost seems as if they have a sixth sense
to know where the ball is going to be before it arrives, and they're already in position to respond by the time it
crosses over the net. This is developed through diligent practice and training the reflexes to respond quickly to
visual information. Play with a partner as much as possible, so you can work on reading and interpreting their
body language, which is a major key to developing anticipation skills.
5. Volleying
Volleying is a technique in which a player uses "short-punch" shots (e.g., little to no backswing) in order to put
pressure on the other opponent. Volleying is usually done close to the net, and is considered to be an attack
approach that keeps the other player on the defense. Work specifically on volley drills in your practice sessions
so that you can sharpen this critical element of your game.

Technical and Tactical Skills that are Needed in Table

Tennis
 Mastering spin.
 The block.
 The loop.
 The forehand smash.
 The lob - forehand lob and backhand lob.
 The backspin chop.
 Advanced serve. Advanced return of serve. The flick (flip)

Rules of the Game Table Tennis

 The Table
The upper surface of the table, known as the playing surface, shall be rectangular, 2.74m long and
1.525m wide, and shall lie in a horizontal plane 76cm above the floor. The playing surface shall not
include the vertical sides of the tabletop. The playing surface may be of any material and shall yield a
uniform bounce of about 23cm when a standard ball is dropped on to it from a height of 30cm. The
playing surface shall be uniformly dark coloured and matte, but with a white side line, 2cm wide,
along each 2.74m edge and a white end line, 2cm wide, along each 1.525m edge. The playing
surface shall be divided into 2 equal courts by a vertical net running parallel with the end lines, and
shall be continuous over the whole area of each court. For doubles, each court shall be divided into 2
equal half-courts by a white centre line, 3mm wide, running parallel with the side lines; the centre line
shall be regarded as part of each right half-court.

The Net Assembly

The net assembly shall consist of the net, its suspension and the supporting posts, including the
clamps attaching them to the table. The net shall be suspended by a cord attached at each end to an
upright post 15.25cm high, the outside limits of the post being 15.25cm outside the side line. The top
of the net, along its whole length, shall be 15.25cm above the playing surface. The bottom of the net,
along its whole length, shall be as close as possible to the playing surface and the ends of the net
shall be attached to the supporting posts from top to bottom.

The Ball
The ball shall be spherical, with a diameter of 40mm. The ball shall weigh 2.7g. The ball shall be
made of celluloid or similar plastics material and shall be white or orange, and matt.

The Racket

 The racket can be any size, shape or weight but the blade shall be flat and rigid.
 The surface covering material shall be matt and bright red on one side and black on the other.
 At least 85% of the blade thickness shall be of natural wood.

Definitions

 A rally is the period which the ball is in play.

 A let is a rally of which the result is not scored.
 A point is a rally of which the result is scored.
 The server is the player due to strike the ball first in the rally.
 The receiver is the player due to strike the ball second in a rally.
 The ball shall be regarded as passing over or around the net assembly if it passes anywhere other then
between the net and the net post or between the net and the playing surface.

The Service
Service shall start with the ball resting freely on the open palm of the server's stationary free
hand. The server shall then project the ball near vertically upwards, without imparting spin, so that it
rises at least 16cm after leaving the palm of the free hand and then falls without touching anything
before being struck. As the ball is falling the server shall strike it so that it touches first his or her court
and then, after passing over or around the net assembly, touches directly the receiver's court; in
doubles, the ball shall touch successively the right half court of server and receiver. From the start of
 service until it is struck, the ball shall be above the level of the playing surface and behind the server's
end line, and it shall not be hidden from the receiver by the server or his or her doubles partner or by
anything they wear or carry. As soon as the ball has been projected, the server’s free arm and hand
shall be removed from the space between the ball and the net.

The space between the ball and the net is defined by the ball, the net and its indefinite upward
extension. It is the responsibility of the player to serve so that the umpire or the assistant umpire can
be satisfied that he or she complies with the requirements of the Laws, and either may decide that a
service is incorrect. If either the umpire or the assistant umpire is not sure about the legality of a
service he or she may, on the first occasion in a match, interrupt play and warn the server; but any
subsequent service by that player or his or her doubles partner which is not clearly legal shall be
considered incorrect. Exceptionally, the umpire may relax the requirements for a correct service
where he or she is satisfied that compliance is prevented by physical disability.

The Return
The ball, having been served or returned shall be struck so that it passes over or around the net
assembly and touches the opponents court, either directly or after touching the net assembly.

The Order of Play

In singles the server shall make a first service and the receiver shall make a return
and thereafter alternately shall each make a return.

In doubles, the server shall first make a service, the receiver shall then make a return, the partner of
the server shall then make a return, the partner of the receiver shall then make a return and thereafter
each player in turn in that sequence shall make a return.

A Point
Unless the rally is a let, a player shall score a point:

 If an opponent fails to make a correct service;

 If an opponent fails to make a correct return;
 If, after he or she has made a service or a return, the ball touches anything other than the net assembly
before being struck by an opponent;
 If the ball passes over his or her court or beyond his or her end line without touching his or her court,
after being struck by an opponent;
 If an opponent obstructs the ball;
 If an opponent deliberately strikes the ball twice in succession;
 If an opponent strikes the ball with a side of the racket blade whose surface does not comply with the
requirements of 2.4.3, 2.4.4 and 2.4.5;
 If an opponent, or anything an opponent wears or carries, moves the playing surface;
 If an opponent, or anything an opponent wears or carries, touches the net assembly;
 If an opponent's free hand touches the playing surface;
 If a doubles opponent strikes the ball out of the sequence established by the first server and first
receiver;
 As provided under the expedite system (2.15.4).
 If both players or pairs are in a wheelchair due to a physical disability and
 His or her opponent does not maintain a minimum contact with the seat or cushion(s), with the back of
the thigh, when the ball is struck;
 His or her opponent touches the table with either hand before striking the ball;
 His or her opponent's footrest or foot touches the floor during play.
 As provided under the order of play (2.8.3).

A Game
A game shall be won by a player or pair first scoring 11 points unless both players or pairs score 10
points, when the game shall be won by the first player or pair subsequently gaining a lead of 2 points.

A Match
A match shall consist of the best of any odd number of games.

How to officiate the score?

When you are playing ping pong, or table tennis, in your home, you can make up your own rules and
keep score any way you like. But when you play in a competition that follows the International Table
Tennis Federation rules and regulations, you need to know the rules for keeping score correctly. It is
not uncommon for matches in local competitions to have no umpires, and the players must umpire
and keep the score themselves.

Before the Match Starts

To prepare, get the match score sheet and a pen or pencil. Don't wait until the end of the match to
write down the scores, or you may not be able to remember them all. It also helps to check the score
sheet to make sure that you have the correct opponent and are playing on the correct table.

Next, check to see if a match is a best of five or seven games (these are the most common by far,
although any odd number of games can be used). Note on the score sheet which player serves first
(often determined by a coin toss).

Score Rules

Each player gets to serve for two points in a row, and then the other player has to serve. You are not
allowed to give the serve away and choose to receive all the time, even if both players agree.

When serving, you must follow the rules for a legal serve, and hit the ball so that it touches your side
of the table once, then bounces over or around the net, and then touches your opponent's side of the
table. A serve that touches the net assembly (the net, net posts, and net clamps) on the way, but still
touches your side first and then your opponent's side on the second bounce, is called a let serve (or
just a " let") and must be replayed with no change to the score. There is no limit on how many lets you
can serve in a row.

Returning the Ball

If you are playing doubles, you must serve the ball diagonally so that it bounces first in the right half
of your side of the table, goes over or around the net, and then bounces in the right half of your
opponents' side of the table.

Your opponent then attempts to return the ball over or around the net so that it bounces first on your
side of the table. If he cannot, you win the point. If he does, you must hit the ball over or around the
net so that it bounces first on his side of the table. If you cannot, he wins the point. Play continues in
this manner until either you or your opponent cannot return the ball legally, in which case the other
player wins the point.

In doubles, each of the players takes turns hitting the ball. The server hits the ball first, then the
receiver, then the server's partner, then the receiver's partner, and then the server again. If a player
hits the ball when it is not his turn, his team loses the point.

Winning in Pingpong

The first player or team to reach 11 points with a lead of at least two points is the winner. If both
players or teams reach 10, then the game is won by the first player or team to get two points ahead.
Also, if the match reaches a score of 10-all, both players or teams serve only one serve each until the
game is won. The score is called out with the server's score first.

Point Values

If you do forget who is supposed to be serving in the middle of a game, an easy way to find out is to
look at the score sheet and see who served first in that game. Then count up in twos (two points per
server) until you reach the current game score.

For example, imagine the score is 9-6 and you and your opponent cannot remember who is to serve.
Start with either score, then count up by twos. Starting with 9, you would count in this way:

 2 points for the original server at the start of the game

 2 points for the original receiver
 2 points for the server
 2 points for the receiver
 1 point for the server

That's the full 9 points. Continue with the other score in the same way:

 1 point for the server (carrying on from the previous score of 9)

 2 points for the receiver
 2 points for the server
 1 point for the receiver

That's the full 6 points. The receiver has only had one serve, so he has one serve left.

If the score is past 10-all, it's a lot easier to remember whose serve it is. The original server at the
beginning of that game serves whenever the overall scores are equal (10-all, 11-all, 12-all, etc.), and the
original receiver serves whenever the scores are different.

The winner is the first player or team to win more than half of the maximum possible games. Once a
player or team has done this, the match is over and the remaining games are not played. So the
possible game scores are a 3-0, 3-1, or 3-2 win in a best of five games match, or a 4-0, 4-1, 4-2, 4-3 win
in a best of seven games match.