NAME: Marc Augustus T.

Garcia Teacher: Sir Pepito Mosquito

ME2A2

A Brief History Of Table Tennis

Table tennis has been around for over 140 years and in that time a lot has changed
since its humble beginnings being played in homes by the upper classes to now
being played by millions of players in hundreds of countries all over the world.

In this post, we’re going to take look at the history of table tennis and cover some
of the notable dates and changes.

Who invented table tennis?

Table tennis (or Ping Pong as it is more commonly known in the US) was invented
in 1880s Victorian England. It was an adaptation the popular game lawn tennis as a
way of continuing to play inside during the winter when it was too cold to play
outside.

It caught on very quickly being a lot more accessible for people to play at home as
they didn’t need a big outside space.

Lots of games companies began marketing sets that came with nets, bats and balls.
Back then the game went by a lot of different names depending on the company
that was selling the equipment. Some of the names that it was known by are:

 Ping-Pong or Gossima
 Table Tennis
 Whiff Waff
 Pom-Pom
 Pim-Pam
 Lots of others

Eventually, Ping Pong and Table Tennis stuck and in 1901 The Ping Pong
Association and The Table Tennis Association were formed.
Where did the name Ping Pong come from? Trademark issues

After seeing the game become so popular, J. Jaques & Son Ltd, a British
manufacturer, trademarked the name Ping-Pong worldwide. This meant that other
manufacturers had to refer to the game as Table Tennis (or a different name) on
any products they produced to avoid infringing on the trademark

The same happened in the US where Jaques sold the trademark rights to the Parker
Brothers who made sure that other companies and associations weren’t referring to
it as Ping-Pong.

Early table tennis tables

Originally table tennis was played on dining room or billiards tables. Players
would set up nets across the table and some times even nets at the sides to catch the
ball. It’s thought that in India the British army would make their own tables using a
row of books for the net, more books as makeshift paddles and then a golf ball!
Early table tennis bats

The bats used came in a variety of different styles, shapes and sizes. The common
ones were made out of wood and covered in vellum canvas that was stretched
across the wooden frame. This is how ping pong got its name as the sounds made
when the ball hit the bat were at different pitches.

Early table tennis balls

There were various different types of balls of different sizes and made using
different materials. Pre 1900 they were often made out of cork or rubber but they
weren’t ideal as the bounce of the rubber ball was too unpredictable (can you
imagine trying to play with a rubber ball) and the cork ball not enough. 

Then in 1901 James W. Gibb discovered celluloid balls whilst visiting the US
which was perfect for the game. A 38mm ball made from celluloid quickly became
the standard and was used all the way up until very recently when in 2000 the ball
size increased to 40mm. Then in 2014 balls started to be made out of plastic
instead.

For more information about the evolution of the table tennis ball, we recommend
you check out this post from Table Tennis 11 that goes into a lot more detail.
The 1920’s to 1950’s: Europe dominates in the hard bat era
Whilst table tennis went out of style around 1903, in the 1920s it experienced a
revival. Standardized rules began to be introduced and adopted which helped it to
grow more and more in popularity. Then, in 1926 the ITTF (The International
Federation of Table Tennis) was formed in Berlin and the first-ever world
championships were held in England.

The period between 1920 and 1950 is known as the Classic Hard Bat era due to the
lack of sponge on the rackets at the time. European players generally were
dominant in terms of competition wins over these decades.

In 1936, a few rule changes were brought in by the ITTF such as increasing the
height of the nets to 6 & ¾ inches and painting the tables. This resulted in slowing
the game down a lot which made it harder for attacking players. Amazingly during
the World Championships in Prague that year, there was a rally which lasted over 2
hours, the longest ever rally during a world championship game.

1950’s to the 1970s: The east dominates in the sponge bat era

The 1950s saw a big change in the technology used in table tennis bats. Japanese
player Hiroji Satoh had a racket which used a layer of foam sponge rubber which
resulted in him being able to develop a lot more speed and spin and he won the
1952 world championships.

The sport had become hugely popular in Asia and players from countries such as
China, Japan and Korea began to dominate the podiums during world
championships.

Ping Pong Diplomacy

Table tennis became political in the 1970s when a friendly exchange between
Chinese and American players led to an exchange of players and even a visit to
China by President Nixon in what became known as Ping Pong Diplomacy. This
opened the doors between the two countries during the cold war and the embargo
on China was lifted.
1970’s to 2000s: Speed glue and the rise of Sweeden

In the 1970s some experimentation with bicycle tyre repair glue to apply the rubber
to the bat led to players being able to generate a lot more speed and spin with their
rackets. This became known as speed glue and is generally credited to Yugoslavian
Dragutin Surbek and Hungarian Tibor Klampar.
Even so, the first two decades of this period started like the last, with China
dominating the world championships in both the men’s and women’s events. But,
China’s dominance was brought to an end in 1989 with Sweedish players winning
the 1989, 1991 and 1993 team events plus two Men’s World Championship titles
in 1989 and 1991.

Table tennis becomes an Olympic sport

Over the whole of the 20th century, table tennis had been growing in popularity
and it finally became an Olympic sport when it first featured in the 1988 Korean
Olympic games in Seoul. Now the sport is loved all over the world by as many
as 875 million people!