Table Tennis

Also known as ping pong and indoor tennis, this sport has origins shrouded in mystery, which is odd, given its relative youth.

Origins

The earliest known form of the sport, called indoor tennis, was played in the early 1880s by British army officers in India, as part of their after dinner rowdiness in the mess. They used cigar box lids as paddles and rounded corks from wine bottles as balls, with a row of books set up across the middle of the dining table instead of a net.

From this, several versions developed in England during the 1890s, known locally as whiff whaff and gossima. 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 them. Gibb apparently came up with the name ping pong, representing the sounds of the ball hitting the paddle and then the table.

Fascinating facts

  1. The first world championship tournament was held in London in 1927.
  2. From then until World War II, Hungary dominated the sport.
  3. Ping pong diplomacy was the term developed in 1971, when the American Ping-Pong team, in Japan for the 31st World Table Tennis Championship, received a surprise invitation from their Chinese colleagues for an all-expense paid visit to the People's Republic. Chairman Mao wished to reopen diplomatic relationships with the USA and thought this would be a good way to do so. The team was the first group of Americans allowed into China since the Communist takeover in 1949 and within a year President Nixon had followed them to rebuild the relationship with China.

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