TABLE TENNIS

Table tennis is a very fun and enjoyable game. Now it is not only a game, but a sport – an Olympic sport. Most historians will agree that table tennis originated centuries ago in England. It is thought that it was first played with makeshift equipment on dining room tables. Around the beginning of the 18th century people began using celluloid balls instead of the traditional rubber and cork. After this the game became very popular in England and in the united states. Some common names for it early on where gossimar, whiff-whaff, and ping pong. Ping-pong is the name that actually caught on and we still use it today. It became a patented trade name for table tennis. Around the early 1920s the game was becoming very popular and in several parts of the world a movement started to revive table tennis as a serious sport. A meeting held in 1926 in berlin among five nations resulted in the formation of the international table tennis federation or ittf. This federation governs and regulates tournaments around the world. There is also the united states table tennis association or ustta that regulates and sponsors table tennis tournaments and events here in the united states. The ittf is composed of about 140 member nations. The table that you play on is 9 ft by 5 ft. you stand on the ends that are 5 ft in width. The table is separated into opposite courts by a net that stands 6 inches high. The ball you use is hollow and spherical. It weighs 2.7 grams and is 40 millimeters in diameter. They have recently changed the ball size. In fact most people still play with the old ball size of 38 mm. longer rallies and extended points. Easier visibility. Like in tennis, table tennis requires the players to hit the ball back and forth over the net until one of the players misses the ball, or hits it into the net or off the table; in either of these cases, the opponents scores.