Table Tennis
The origin of table tennis has never been exactly pinpointed, even though it's a
relatively young sport, younger than lawn tennis and not much older than
basketball.
The earliest known form of the sport, called indoor tennis, was played in the early
1880s by British army officers in India and South Africa, using lids from cigar
boxes as paddles and rounded corks from wine bottles as balls, with a row of
books set up across the middle of a table to form the net.
The earliest evidence extant of an action game of Tennis on a table is a set made by
David Foster, patented in England in 1890: Parlour Table Games, which included
table versions of Lawn Tennis, Cricket and Football. This game featured strung
rackets, a 30mm cloth covered rubber ball, a wooden fence set up around the
perimeter of the table, and large side nets extending along both sides.
One year later famous game makers, an English manufacturer of sporting goods, John
Jaques of London released their GOSSIMA game. This game borrowed the drum
style battledores from the Shuttlecock game, and used a 50mm webbed wrapped
cork ball, with an amazing 30cm high net!
Neither of these action games was successful, due to the ineffective ball: the
rubber ball had too wild a bounce, while the cork ball had too poor a bounce. So
the concept was shelved until 1900, when the celluloid ball was introduced to the
game. James Gibb, an Englishman who visited the United States in 1900, brought
some hollow celluloid balls home and began playing indoor tennis with friends,
using the new balls. The name Ping Pong was derived from the sound of the ball
bouncing off the drum battledores, each of which had a slightly different sound.
The higher pitched sound suggested Ping, the lower pitch, Pong. This can still be
demonstrated today using the antique battledores!
Gibb apparently came up with the name "ping pong," representing the sounds of the
ball hitting the paddle and then the table. However John Jacques registered "Ping
Pong" as a trade name in 1901 and sold American rights to Parker Brothers, who
came out with a new kit under that name.
Another Englishman, E. C. Goode, in 1902 covered his wooden ping pong paddle with
pebbled rubber, which allowed him to put spin on the ball. A Ping Pong
Association was founded in England that year, but it lasted less than three years,
mainly because Parker Brothers' control of the name made equipment rather
expensive.
After the name Ping-Pong was introduced, the game became a fashionable craze. There
are many contemporary references to it and illustrations of it being played, usually
in domestic surroundings.
By the early years of this century, Ping-Pong had already acquired some of its present
day complexities, though it was still seen by many as an after-dinner amusement
rather than a sport. An account published in 1903 found it necessary to warn
against wearing a dress suit and stiff shirt---or, for ladies, a white satin gown---but
went on to give detailed technical advice about pimpled rubber, the penholder grip
and tactics.
The game was popular in Central Europe in 1905-10, and even before this a modified
version had been introduced to Japan, where it later spread to China and Korea.
After a period when it had dropped out of favor in Europe, the game was revived in
England and Wales in the early twenties. By that time 'Ping-Pong' had been
registered as a trademark, so the earlier name of table tennis was re-introduced.
National associations were formed and standardization of the rules began, both in
Europe and the Far East.
Nevertheless, the sport spread rather quietly in England and Europe, primarily with
equipment marketed by other manufacturers using the generic name of table tennis.
A new Table Tennis Association was established in England in 1921. It was
followed by the Fédération Internationale de Tennis de Table (International Table
Tennis Federation), founded at a 1926 meeting in Berlin by England, Sweden,
Hungary, India, Denmark, Germany, Czechoslovakia, Austria, and Wales.
Central European dominance continued for a time after World War II, but Asian
players took over the sport beginning in 1953. One factor in the sudden
emergence of Asian stars was the introduction of the foam rubber paddle by
Japan's Horoi Satoh in1952. The new coating made the game faster and also
allowed players to put even more spin in the ball.
The first world championship tournament was held in London in 1927. From then until
World War II, Hungary dominated the sport. The top players of that early period
were two Hungarians: Maria Mednyanszky, who won seven women's
championships, and Viktor Barna, a five-time men's champion. Czechoslovakia
and Romania also produced several champions.
Then, over the next sixty years, table tennis developed into a major worldwide sport,
played by perhaps thirty million competitive players and by uncountable millions
who play less seriously. However, the game itself has not changed in essence since
its earliest days, though it is faster, more subtle and more demanding than it was
even only twenty years ago. A constant concern of the ITTF has always been to
insure that table tennis remains a contest of human skills and that technological
developments which add a new factor to the game do not give too great an
advantage to the players who have the first opportunity of making use of them.
Thus, equipment specifications are carefully laid down, and rigorously enforced.
The American Ping Pong Association was organized in 1930, but its membership was
limited because only Parker Brothers equipment could be used. Two rival
organizations, the U. S. Amateur Table Tennis Association and the National Table
Tennis Association, were founded in 1933. The three groups merged in 1935 into
the U. S. Table Tennis Association, which was renamed U.S.A. Table Tennis in
1994.
Other changes----a lowering of the net, a rule to avoid protracted games between
defensive players, and rules preventing excessive advantage being gained by the
server----were introduced in the thirties and further minor changes are made from
time to time. Changes to the rules of the sport can only be made only at the ITTF's
Biennial General Meeting, and are never made without the agreement of a
substantial majority of the hundred or so member Associations represented at the
BGM, all of whom have an equal vote.
Modern table tennis at national and international level is a rigorous as any sport in its
demands for the highest degree of physical fitness and mental concentration,
attained only by arduous training to develop natural skill. Fred Perry, World Men's
Singles Table Tennis Champion in 1928-29, later achieved even greater fame at
Wimbledon; perhaps it would not be quite true to say that he moved to the larger
court when his play became too slow for the table, but it is certainly true that no
sport requires faster reactions and more delicate muscular co-ordination than table
tennis.
Asian players also developed the "penholder" grip, in which the handle of the paddle is
held between forefinger and thumb, which allows the player to strike the ball with
the same face of the paddle on any stroke. That grip is now used by virtually Table
tennis became an Olympic sport in 1988, with singles and doubles competition for
both men and women.
Basics
The Table
The playing surface should be rectangular, 2.74m long and 1.525m wide, and shall lie
in a horizontal plane 76cm above the floor. It should not include the vertical sides
of the tabletop and should 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 colored and matt, 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. It 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 center line, 3mm wide,
running parallel with the side lines; the center line shall be regarded as part of
each right half-court.
The Net Assembly
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 Ball
The ball shall be spherical, with a diameter of 40mm.and weigh 2.7g. The ball shall be
made of celluloid or similar plastics material and shall be white or orange, and matt.
The ITTF had increased the size of the ball from 38mm to 40mm, effective
October 1, 2000.
The Racket
The racket may be of any size, shape or weight but the blade (wooden face) shall be
flat and rigid. The covering material (rubber sheets) shall extend up to but not
beyond the limits of the blade, except that the part nearest the handle and gripped
by the fingers may be left uncovered or covered with any material.
The surface of the covering material on a side of the blade, or of a side of the blade if it
is left uncovered, shall be matt, bright red on one side and black on the other.
Slight deviations from continuity of surface or uniformity of color due to
accidental damage or wear may be allowed provided that they do not significantly
change the characteristics of the surface.
Serving
The server shall project the ball near vertically upwards, without imparting spin, so
that it rises at least 16cm and then falls without touching anything before being
struck. The ball shall not be hidden from the receiver by any part of the body or
clothing of the server or his doubles partner and as soon as the ball has been
projected, the server’s free arm shall be removed from the space between the
server’s body and the net.
If the umpire is doubtful of the legality of a service he may, on the first occasion in a
match, declare a let (see below) and warn the server. Any subsequent service of
doubtful legality of that player or his doubles partner will result in a point to the
receiver. Whenever there is a clear failure to comply with the requirements for a
good service, no warning shall be given and the receiver shall score a point.
Let Point
To “Let” a point is to disregard it. A point is let if:
(1) the ball touches the net during an otherwise good serve without interruption
by either player.
(2) play is disturbed by circumstances beyond the players’ control.
(3) the service is delivered when the receiving player or pair is not ready,
provided that neither the receiver nor his partner attempts to strike the ball.
Scoring Points
When served, the ball should bounce once on the server’s side of the table and once on
your opponent’s side of the table. (In doubles play, the ball shall touch
successively the right half court of server and receiver.) When returned, however,
the ball should only bounce once on your opponent’s side of the table. The first
player who fails to keep the ball in play, as specified, loses the point. There are
other ways to score points: if your opponent's free hand touches the playing
surface; if your opponent, or anything your opponent wears or carries, touches the
net assembly; if your opponent strikes the ball twice successively, you win a point.
Course of Play
After a combined two points have been scored, the receiving player or pair shall
become the serving player or pair and so on until the end of the game, unless both
players or pairs score 10 points, when the sequences of serving and receiving shall
be the same but each player shall serve for only 1 point in turn.
The right to choose the initial order of serving shall be decided by luck and the winner
may choose to serve or to receive first. The chooser can also decide whether he
wants to start at a particular end of the table, but then gives up the right to decide
the service order.
In either case, service order and table ends are switched at the beginning of each new
game in a match ( a match shall consist of the best of any odd number of
games).Also, in the last possible game of a match the players switch ends when
the higher score stands at five points.
A game shall be won by the player or pair first scoring 11 points unless both players or
pairs score 10 points, at which point the game shall be won by the first player or
pair subsequently gaining a lead of 2 points.
11-Point Games
This was proposed by the ITTF Executive Committee. By a vote of 104-7, starting
September 1, 2001:
a)
Games will be to 11
b)
Matches will be best of 7 or best of 9
c)
Servers will switch every two points
d)
Players will switch sides in the last possible game when either player scores
5.
The ITTF Technical Committee will decide later which ITTF events will be best of 7
and which will be best of 9. These two options roughly parallel the current best of
3 and best of 5.
11-point games have been used in the past, including the French and Slovenia Opens
last year. USATT experimented with this in the 1980s, using 11-point games in
their Allstar Series for a year.
“I am very happy that we can now implement the whole package of rule changes that
we planned some years ago,” said Sharara. “We already changed the size of the
ball from 38 to 40mm. Now it is time to take the next steps. I believe it will
improve the game. I know that some players and coaches might be against the
changes, but this is only natural. Players don’t like changes. I am sure they will
adapt. If today you give them a 38mm ball, they can’t believe they ever played
with that kind of ball.”