Sports Recommendation

Table Tennis

The origin of table tennis

Table tennis probably originated in late 19th-century England, and was called “Ping Pong” in reference to the sound made when the ball was struck. The Englishman of the time introduced tennis, which was widely popular in Europe, indoors, used their dining tables as the “court” and hit the ball back and forth with bats. At the very beginning, balls were made of soft wood or rubber and bats were made with wood. The bats were oval in shape, had a handle and its surface was layered with parchment. After some time, a British man named James Gibb brought home from America, hollow balls made with celluloid. These bouncier balls soon replaced the old balls. Improvements were then made to the wooden bats and the indoor sport gradually gained popularity.

The development of table tennis

Table tennis has been flourishing in Asia and Europe over the past century. In 1926, the International Table Tennis Federation (hereinafter referred to as "ITTF") was formally established and the first World Table Tennis Championships was held. Unceasing design improvements for the bats have contributed to the development of ping pong techniques around the globe. At that time, wooden bats with rubber on top were used predominately. The rubber cover had cylindrical pimples on the surface, which increased the bounce and friction, and in turn created heavier topspin upon a hit. This was what birthed the “defensive backspin chop” - a playing style that was extremely popular in Europe back then. This gave European players the means to dominate the sport for years. In the early fifties, the Japanese team broke the European dominance by achieving good results at the 19th World Championships. In the sixties, Chinese pen-hold grippers further enhanced the speed and flexibility of table tennis by bringing their “close-to-the-table fast bringings” to the international scene, and achieved world-class prominence with their skills. In order to promote the various techniques and strategies of table tennis, countries around the world have started to collaborate on studies and developments of the sport since the seventies. At the 1988 Seoul Olympic Games, the International Olympic Committee listed table tennis as one of the official events, thus making the sport even more popular.

Courts, equipment and tactics

For Olympic table tennis, games are played within stadiums. The dimension of a standard court is 16 meters long x 8 meters wide, and the ceiling should not be less than four meters from the floor. The floor should employ wooden or removable plastic covering approved by the ITTF, and should be without any markings and other sports logos, the floor cannot be coloured too light or be too reflective, and cannot be oiled or waxed excessively. Air flow rate within the stadium should be within 0.2 to 0.3 meters per second, while the temperature should be maintained at 20 to 25ºC or 5ºC lower than the outdoor temperature.

The table should be 2.74 meters long, 1.525 meters wide and 0.76 meters tall; and it should be dark green or blue. The net should be 15.25 centimeters tall, whereas the baffles should be 0.75 meters tall and 1.4 or 2 meters wide; the two must be the same colour as the table. All equipment should be specifically approved and designated by ITTF.

Balls and bats are the basic equipment of table tennis. According to the latest ITTF regulations, standard balls for international competitions should be made with polyester, and these balls have since replaced the more than a century old model of celluloid balls, which also happens to be highly flammable and will emit large amount of toxic gases upon burning. The new ball is white in colour and can be identified with its diameter "40+" marked on it. The bat, on the other hand, has various new designs, such as Pimples out, Pimples out special (made with raw rubber), Pimples in (inverted pips bats), long pimples and antispin bats, etc., which cater to different play styles. A pimples out bat has good bounce and makes stable and hard hits, which is especially good for the “close-to-the-table fast bringings” style that emphasises ball speed; a pimples in bat, on the other hand, is more likely to procure spins, increasing the difficulty of a return smash from the opponent. Although there are many types of tactics in Table Tennis, blocks, sidespin, drive, loop-smash-and-lob, chop-and-return, smash after service and counter-hit the service, etc., are the main motions used.

Olympic Table Tennis — rules, regulation and scoring

Servers have to put the ball on the free hand, open the palm and remain stationary. Then toss the ball at least 16 centimetres upwards without imparting spin, then hit the falling ball which must not touch anything before the hit is made. The contact point shall be seen clearly by at least one of the judges. Players receiving a serve must make a return directly over the net into the server’s side of the table, or must hit the ball so that it makes contact with the net clamp and then reaches the server’s side of the table. The failure to do so will cost the player a point.

The following are some of the causes of a lost point:

(1)	failure to serve correctly;
(2)	failure to return correctly;
(3)	after a player makes a return, the ball fails to touch the opponent’s side nor the front edge of the table;
(4)	a player obstructs the ball;
(5)	a player double-hits the ball;
(6)	a player uses a non-approved side of the bat;
(7)	the player or something he/she is wearing moves the table;
(8)	the player or something he/she is wearing touches the net clamp;
(9)	the player’s free hand touches the table;
(10)	a player in the doubles gets the striking order wrong;
(11)	under the expedite system, the server loses the point when the receiver makes 13 returns in the rally.

The Olympic Table Tennis includes the singles (men's singles, women's singles) and the team events (men's team, women's team). Each game starts with the service from one player/team and both players take turns serving or receiving until one of them loses a point. A game shall be won by the player who scored 11 points first, if both players score 10 points, the game shall be won by the first player who subsequently gains a 2 point lead. Olympic singles is played as best out of seven matches, while the team event, on the other hand, is typically best out of five matches.

Promotion table tennis

The Hong Kong Table Tennis Association is dedicated to the promotion of local table tennis and has been established in Hong Kong for more than 40 years now. It is a committee member of the ITTF, the Asian Table Tennis Union and the Sports Federation & Olympic Committee of Hong Kong, China. The Leisure and Cultural Services Department has been funding its district sports clubs, community forums and training courses, and the Association has also been organizing free sports seminars, such as the "Ping-pong Guided Tours" and the "Tactics", which has given the general public opportunities to participate in the sport.

With regards to promotion at schools, the Leisure and Cultural Services Department and Education Bureau (EDB) jointly organized the "School Sports Programme", so as to scout out potential students for the Hong Kong Table Tennis Team, and to nurture them as elite athletes who would soon represent us.

Sources :
International Table Tennis Federation
http://www.ittf.com/_front_page/ittf.asp?category=General

Introduction to table tennis
http://zh.wikipedia.org/zh-tw/%E4%B9%92%E4%B9%93%E7%90%83

The Table Tennis Association
http://www.hktta.org.hk/cgi-bin/index.cgi