TABLE TENNIS By Group 3 What is Table

TABLE TENNIS By: Group 3

What is Table Tennis? It is a sport in which two or four players hit a lightweight ball back and forth across a table using a small bat.

Origin and History

Like most other sports, table tennis had humble beginnings as a “parlor game, ” open to anyone with access to a table, paddle, and ball. The game began in the 1880 s, when lawn tennis players adapted their game to play indoors during the winter.

The sport got its start in England towards the end of the 19 th century when, after dinner, some upper-middle class Victorians decided to turn their dining room tables into miniature versions of the traditional lawn tennis playing field.

The game quickly caught on, and as early as 1901, tournaments were being conducted with over 300 participants.

The name “Ping-Pong” was invented by the English firm J. Jaques and Son at the end of the 1800 s and later trademarked in the United States by Parker Brothers, the board game company.

Then in the 1920's the name and the sport were revived in Europe as table tennis.

The Ping-Pong Association was formed but was renamed The Table Tennis Association in 1922.

And after the world championships in Prague in 1936, where two defensive players took over an hour to contest one point, the net was lowered to make the pace of the game-play faster. (In another effort to make the game more fast paced and entertaining, rules were again changed in 2001. )

There was an unofficial world championship held in 1901, but the first official world championship was held in London in 1927 by the International Table Tennis Federation.

The ITTF was founded in Berlin in 1926 by England, Sweden, Hungary, India, Denmark, Germany, Czechoslovakia, Austria, and Wales.

Table Tennis: Victors

The first world championships were held in 1927 and were won by a Hungarian, Dr. Jacobi.

Hungarians, who completely dominated the game throughout the thirties.

Their team was led by the legendary Victor Barna, whose inspiration and skill did so much to elevate the game to sports status.

Table Tennis: Victors (Asian Factor)

But in 1952, Japanese player Horoi Satoh introduced the foam rubber paddle. (The paddle made the game faster and spinning the ball became an even greater factor. )

Japan became the main winner in the world competitions in 1960.

By the mid 1960’s China took over the reigns through to the early 1980’s.

Their absolute domination of the sport was finally subdued with the entering of table tennis into the Olympic Games in 1988 and the participation of players from Korea and Sweden.

Table Tennis during the Cold War

On April 6 th, 1971, the US table tennis team was invited on an all -expenses-paid trip to play in China.

One of the first signs during the Cold war of improved relations between the United States and China. (Time magazine called it “the pong heard throughout the world. ” It was shortly followed with a visit to China by President Nixon. )

Table Tennis Today

Today, the sport both in England abroad is very well established and is growing each year.

The culmination of this has been its recognition as an Olympic Games sport, being featured for the first time in the 1988 games in Seoul.

From 1988 until 2004, these were men's singles, women's singles, men's doubles and women's doubles. Since 2008, a team event has been played instead of the doubles.

Television coverage of the men’s singles final attracted an incredible worldwide audience of 2 billion.

Table Tennis: Fact in China

In China, the game is played by literally millions at work, in school, and in community parks. Chinese top players are regarded as national heroes with pop star statuses.

Nature of the Sport

The nature of the game had been changed, establishing the fast attacking speed and spin style of the modern game. (The thickness of the sponge and rubber sandwich was controlled and remains so to this day. )

Grips

Way of holding the racket.

The penhold grip is so-named because one grips the racket similarly to the way one holds a writing instrument.

Chinese Penhold Traditional Penhold

The shakehand grip is sonamed because the racket is grasped as if one is performing a handshake.

Forehand Shakehand grip Backhand

Basic Skills/Drills

Types of strokes Offensive strokes Hit Loop Counter Hit Flip Smash Defensive strokes Push Chop Block Lob

A direct hit on the ball propelling it forward back to the opponent. The racket is primarily perpendicular, most of the energy applied to the ball results in speed rather than spin.

The loop is essentially the reverse of the speed drive. The racket is much more parallel, resulting in a large amount of topspin.

Counter is when the racket is held closed and near to the ball, which is hit with a short movement "off the bounce" (immediately after hitting the table) so that the ball travels faster to the other side. A well-timed, accurate counterdrive can be as effective as a smash.

The ball may still be attacked, however, and the resulting shot is called a flip because the backswing is compressed into a quick wrist action.

A player will typically execute a smash when his or her opponent has returned a ball that bounces too high or too close to the net. The goal of a smash is to get the ball to move so quickly that the opponent simply cannot return it.

The push (or "slice" in Asia) is usually used for keeping the point alive and creating offensive opportunities.

A chop is the defensive, backspin counterpart to the offensive loop drive.

A block is executed by simply placing the racket in front of the ball right after the ball bounces; thus, the ball rebounds back toward the opponent with nearly as much energy as it came in with.

The defensive lob is possibly the most impressive shot, since it propels the ball about five metres in height, only to land on the opponent's side of the table with great amounts of spin. Top-quality players use this to their advantage in order to control the spin of the ball.

Different Spins Backspin Topspin Sidespin Corkspin

Backspin is where the bottom half of the ball is rotating away from the player, and is imparted by striking the base of the ball with a downward movement.

Backspin

Topspin is the least common type of spin to be found in service at the professional level, simply because it is much easier to attack a top-spin ball that is not moving at high speed.

Topspin

Unlike the two aforementioned techniques, sidespin causes the ball to spin on an axis which is vertical, rather than horizontal.

Corkspin is almost always mixed with another variety of spin, as it is less effective and harder to produce on its own.

4 basic drills: Forehand drive Backhand push Forehand push

Equipments

The choice of ball color is made according to the table color and its surroundings. (For example, a white ball is easier to see on a green or blue table than it is on a grey table. )

The 40 mm ball was introduced after the 2000 Summer Olympics.

Balls used in Table Tennis

Table used in Table Tennis

The table or playing surface is uniformly dark coloured and matte, divided into two halves by a net at 15. 25 cm (6. 0 in) in height.

Players are equipped with a laminated wooden racket covered with rubber on one or two sides depending on the grip of the player.

The ITTF uses the term "racket", though "bat" is common in Britain, and "paddle" in the U. S. and Canada.

Racket

Facilities

Can be played in wide variety of environment.

Rules & Regulations

Starting a Game

The first service is decided by lot, normally a coin toss.

The correct or incorrect guess gives the "winner" the option to choose to serve, receive, or to choose which side of the table to use.

Service and Return

If the service is "good", then the receiver must make a "good" return by hitting the ball back before it bounces a second time on receiver's side of the table so that the ball passes the net and touches the opponent's court, either directly or after touching the net assembly.

Thereafter, the server and receiver must alternately make a return until the rally is over.

Returning the serve is one of the most difficult parts of the game, as the server's first move is often the least predictable and thus most advantageous shot due to the numerous spin and speed choices at his or her disposal.

Let

A let is a rally of which the result is not scored, and is called in the following circumstances:

The ball touches the net in service, provided the service is otherwise correct or the ball is obstructed by the player on the receiving side. Obstruction means a player touches the ball when it is above or travelling towards the playing surface, not having touched the player's court since last being struck by the player.

When the player on the receiving side is not ready and the service is delivered.

Player's failure to make a service or a return or to comply with the Laws is due to a disturbance outside the control of the player.

Play is interrupted by the umpire or assistant umpire.

To help a player distinguish between the rubber used by his opposing player, international rules specify that one side must be red while the other side must be black. The player has the right to inspect his opponent's racket before a match to see the type of rubber used and what colour it is.

Current rules state that, unless damaged in play, the racket cannot be exchanged for another racket at any time during a match.

Scoring

A match is played best 3 of 5 games (or 4/7 or 5/9). For each game, the first player to reach 11 points wins that game, however a game must be won by at least a two point margin. A point is scored after each ball is put into play (not just when the server wins the point as in volleyball).

Your equipment should be as regulated by ITTF.

Officials

A referee usually responsible for the entire running of a table tennis which includes supervising all the umpires, whereas umpires control individual matches.