Table tennis
Table tennis (also known as ping-pong or ping pong) is a racket sport that is disputed between two players or two couples (doubles). It is an Olympic sport since Seoul 1988, and the sport with the largest number of practitioners, with 40 million players competing worldwide. According to a study conducted by NASA, it is the most complicated sport that a human being can practice at a professional level. Various studies have shown that practicing this sport improves, among others, the ability and reaction time, eye-hand coordination, concentration and memory.
The worldwide regulation of this sport is the responsibility of the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF), which brings together more than 200 national organizations and 33 million of federations at all levels of competition, from club tournaments to world championships, which have been held annually since 1926 and biannually since 1957, or the World Tour, a set of tournaments organized by the ITTF that are held on all continents and that brings together professionals of the highest level.
It was born in the 1870s in England as an offshoot of tennis. The history of this sport is marked by a series of technical developments, such as the nature of the racket coverings, the increase in the size of the ball, the reduction in the number of goals per game or the introduction and subsequent prohibition of the use of quick glues., developments that led to innovations in the style of play, such as the use of the Asian-style or "pencil" racket grip (originally by the Hungarians and later by the Asians), and in the tactics employed, such as the appearance of the topspin in the late 1980s. Modern table tennis allows for a wide variety of game systems, both offensive and defensive.
History
Beginnings
Although table tennis is often associated with Asian countries, it is widely accepted that the sport originated in the last quarter of the century XIX in England as a derivation of tennis. It is possible that tennis players faced with adverse weather conditions invented a kind of miniature tennis using a pool or dining table, in a tennis club, and dividing it into two fields with books or simultaneously with a rope. Some of the many existing models for children's games would serve as balls, or even suitably adapted corks. The rackets would be cigar box tops or children's bats. Undoubtedly the legend is mixed with reality. Gerald Gurney and Ron Crayden, two profound scholars in the history of table tennis, lean towards this version. The then parlor game was quickly adopted by university students throughout England. In 1884 the firm F. H. Ayres Ltd. (Frederick Henry Ayres) was already marketing a miniature parlor tennis game. British James Devonshire patented his "Table Tennis" on October 9, 1885, the first known use of the term "table tennis". In July 1890, Yorkshire industrialist David Forster, patented a table game for the room, which consisted only of a table surrounded by a kind of fence to keep the ball within limits. There is no evidence of its commercialization.
In 1891 John Jaques, a sporting goods manufacturer, patented a game called Gossima, which was not accepted. That same year Charles Barter of Gloucestershire registered a patent for cork balls, and around the same time James Gibb, a famous athlete and founder of the Amateur Athletic Association, improvised a set of equipment that consisted of a net fixed to two posts and on a wooden surface raised from the ground, inventing a game of 21 points and balls. eraser. Gibb found small celluloid balls in America, introducing them into the game with immediate success. James Gibb suggested the name Ping Pong to the firm John Jaques Ltd., which registered the name. The name comes from the ping sound made by the celluloid ball on impact with the parchment-covered rackets and the pong sound when the ball makes contact with the table. These parchment rackets had a handle 45 cm in length.
As early as 1901, table tennis tournaments were held in England with the participation of up to 300 players and with cash prizes of up to 25 pounds. In this year, the Ping Pong Association was established in England, which had about 500 players belonging to 39 clubs distributed throughout the country. In these initial dates the service was done directly above the net, like tennis, having a variable height of 17 cm and 17.5 cm. Doubles games were designated by the name of "four-handed game". In Branthem Essex, according to information from the time, tons of celluloid balls were produced per week (approximately 2.5 million units) and distributed throughout the world.
In 1902 the first magazine on this sport began to be published, The Table Tennis and Pastimes Pioneer, which had a weekly periodicity and which was proud that same year to have reached the figure of 20,000 readers. Also in 1902, about 20 books with instructions for the game had been published in England and the US. The main English players of the time, who would play a great role in the evolution of world table tennis, were A. Parker, P. Bronfield, P. E. Warden, G. J. Ross, J. J. Payme, J. Thompson, E. C. Goode and A. T. Finney; and the first rubber or gum covered dotting was patented by Frank Bryan in 1901 and sold under the name Atropo. This type of racket was almost universally adopted for many years. The aluminum racket also came out, guaranteeing great speed, but it was very expensive and was not sold. Ayres and G. G. Bussey made cordoned rackets, like tennis rackets, in miniature. They were very carefully made and used very tight and high-quality laces, but they had the drawback of not offering good control over the ball and were banned in many tournaments, probably because they did not produce any noise. The primitive celluloid balls were excessively light and also had the disadvantage that, since they were made in two parts that were later joined, the joint produced a very inconsistent bounce. In 1900 Jaques Ltd. manufactured a seamless celluloid ball standardized in size and shape. The balls were acquiring hardness and also increased in size, a circumstance that facilitated a fast game. The playing accessories, except for the racket, were sold in cases made mainly in England and the United States.
Internationalization and regulation
In 1922 the new sport was already known in a large part of Europe and India, being regulated in several countries and championships being regularly played. In 1926 the English Table Tennis Association was founded with new rules and statutes, electing Ivor Montagu as president and Bill Pope as secretary. When this association was founded, both Montagu and Pope undertook the task of organizing the I World Championship in London, which was very successful and was settled financially in this year 1926 with a loss of 300 pounds. The idea of the aforementioned championship arose on the occasion of an international tournament organized in Berlin by Dr. Lehmann, with German, Austrian, Hungarian and English participants. In this tournament, the need to establish an International Table Tennis Federation on a provisional basis and the organization of the I World Championship and a Congress, both in London, were discussed. Once the Congress was held, the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) was officially constituted, naming Ivor Montagu president and Bill Pope secretary, who would be until his premature death in 1950.
In this first world championship, lady Swaythling, Montagu's mother, donates the Cup that bears his name to be played by men's teams. Hungary, Austria, England, India, País participate. Wales, Czechoslovakia and Germany. In principle the name was not going to be the World Championship, but the participation of eight Indian players, actually residing in England, led the organizers to give it this name. The female participation was very low, as it was reduced to 14 players: 11 English, 2 Austrian and 1 Hungarian. These first Championships saw the total triumph of the representatives of Hungary, who won all the titles. The championship was already played on tables with the current dimensions, although the height of the net was 17.5 cm. The Organization of this first Championship recommended that the players not wear white clothing, but it did not prevent the clothing from being unsportsmanlike, since the men wore long pants, long-sleeved shirts and also vests, and even in some cases ties, and the women long skirts and normal street dresses. The first decision of the London Congress was to try to unify the rules that then prevailed in Table Tennis. In the I World Championship, teams had played 21 goals each game and the best of three games, and in individual games the best of five games. The ITTF makes two different systems official for 1927: the system of counting up to 21 points in each game and which was defended by the English, and the field tennis system in sets of six games, a system advocated by Hungarians, Austrians and Germans. In January 1928, during the world championships held in Stockholm, the decision was made to unify the system and count up to 21 goals.
Incorporation of Asian countries
In its beginnings, table tennis was dominated by the countries of the European Eastern Bloc, especially by Hungary and Czechoslovakia. With players like the great Viktor Barna, Hungary won the gold medal in the world team championships between 1926 and 1931, between 1933 and 1935 and in 1938, 1949 and 1952 (between 1940 and 1946 they were not disputed).
The first Asian country to stop European dominance was Japan, which dominated the World Cups between 1952 and 1957. This dominance was the reflection of a technical incorporation provided by this country: foam. By placing a thin foam between the wood of the racket and the rubber, effects never seen before with classic rackets were possible. With the irruption of the Japanese in this sport and the incorporation of new techniques and materials, a new era began in the history of table tennis.
In 1959, at the world championships in Dortmund, Chinese player Rong Guotuan won the individual gold medal, becoming the first athlete from that country to win a world title in any sport. China's supremacy begins in the 1960s and remains to this day. China is currently the greatest power in table tennis: since this sport entered the Olympic program, and until the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics, table tennis distributed 32 gold medals, of which China won 28. This supremacy has only been interrupted by isolated cases such as the Hungarian Tibor Klampar in 1979 and above all by the Swedes in the 1990s, especially with Jan-Ove Waldner and Jörgen Persson.
In the early 1970s, an exchange of table tennis matches between Chinese and American players began, which became known in the media as "Ping-Pong Diplomacy" and had major political implications. This event marked the beginning of the thaw in relations between communist China and the United States, in addition to paving the way for the historic visit to the Asian country in 1972 by then-president Richard Nixon. This historic relationship was reflected in the popular and Oscar-winning film Forrest Gump.
The Swedish School
In full Chinese dominance of this sport, few countries could compete with the Asian giant, except for the so-called "Swedish school" which, through innovative training methods, managed to win the world team championship in 1989, 1991, 1993 and 2000, with players like Jörgen Persson or Peter Karlsson, but above all with Jan-Ove Waldner. In 1982, at the age of less than 17, Waldner was runner-up in Europe overall, and in 1983 runner-up in the world by teams, in In 1989 he won his first individual and team world championship and in 1992 he was individual Olympic champion in Barcelona. In 1997, already over 30 years old, he won his second individual world championship, in 2000 his fourth team world championship and the individual silver medal at the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games, and at the 2004 Athens Olympics, already with 39 years old, he managed to be a semifinalist in singles.
With showy attacking play, Waldner increased the popularity of the sport throughout an abnormally long career in table tennis at the highest level. In 2003 he was inducted into the Table Tennis Hall of Fame.
Olympic sport
Acquiring Olympic status is critical to the development and expansion of a sport. Proposals for the inclusion of table tennis as an Olympic sport date back to 1931, but it was not until 1977 when the technical director of the International Olympic Committee, Harry Banks, reported that the IOC, at its 79th session held in Prague, had agreed to recognize table tennis as an Olympic sport. In the 84th session of the IOC, in September 1981, the inclusion of this sport in the Games was agreed, however, the program of the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles could not be altered, so it could only be sport exhibition and it was necessary to wait until the 1988 Seoul Games for it to finally appear in the official program of the games.
Regulations
The ITTF sets the official rules for table tennis worldwide. In accordance with this regulation, some of these standards are indicated in summary:
The table
In accordance with the rules established by the ITTF, the upper surface of the table, known as the playing surface, shall be rectangular, with a length of 2.74 m and a width of 1.525 m, and shall lie on a horizontal plane 76 cm from the ground.
The playing surface can be made of any material and will provide a uniform bounce of about 23 cm when a regulation ball is dropped on it from a height of 30 cm. Color should be dark, uniform and matte, with a 2cm wide white lateral line along each 2.74m edge, and a 2cm wide white bottom line along each 2.74m edge. 1,525 m. It will be divided into two equal fields by a vertical net parallel to the end lines and will be continuous throughout the area of each field.
For doubles, each field will be divided into two equal half fields by a white center line 3mm wide and parallel to the side lines.
The ball
The ball is spherical, has a diameter of 40.5 mm, and a weight of 2.7 g. It will be celluloid or a similar plastic material. The ITTF only authorizes balls that are orange or white in color and matte in tone. Brand patterns can vary widely, depending on the manufacturer. For the year 2015, the ITTF approved 74 models of balls for use in competitions.
The initial ITTF regulations of December 1926 stated that the ball should have a circumference of between 4.5 and 4.75 inches (approximately 36 and 38 mm in diameter). After the 2000 Sydney Olympics, starting in October of that same year and in order to decrease the speed of play and make it more attractive to viewers and television broadcasts, the ITTF increased the diameter of the ball from 38 to 40 mm.
The racket
To hit the ball, a racket is used, which can be of any size, shape or weight, although the blade must be flat and rigid and at least 85% of its thickness must be made of natural wood. The sheet may be internally reinforced with an adhesive layer of a fibrous material such as carbon fiber, fiberglass or pressed paper, but not to exceed 7.5% of the total thickness or 0.35mm, always the bottom dimension.
The side of the blade used to hit the ball shall be covered with either normal spiked rubber with spikes facing out and a total thickness not exceeding 2mm, or sandwich rubber spikes in or out and a total thickness not exceeding 4 mm. The surface of the coating on the sides of the blade, or on one side if this is not covered, will be matte, black on one side and a luminous color on the other, clearly distinguishable from black and the color of the ball.
The Party
The matches can be singles or doubles. After every 2 points scored, the receiver or receiving pair will become the server or serving pair, and so on until the end of the game, unless both players or pairs have scored 10 points or the rush rule is in effect. In these last cases, the order of service and reception will be the same, but each player will serve only one point alternately.
In each game of a doubles match, the pair that has the right to serve first will choose which of the two players will serve first, and in the first game of a match the receiving pair will decide which of the two players will receive first; in the following games of the match, once the first server has been chosen, the first receiver will be the player who served him in the previous game; at each change of service, the previous receiver will become the server, and the partner of the previous server will become the receiver.
The player or pair who serves first in a game will receive first in the next game of the match. In the last possible game of a doubles match, the receiving pair will change their receiving order when the first of the pairs scores 5 points. The player or pair that starts a game on one side of the table will start the next game of the match on the other side, and in the last possible game of a match, the players or pairs will switch sides after the first of the players or pairs score 5 points.
In doubles matches, the players of the pair will have to alternately hit the ball (one first and one after). In doubles, the serve will always be carried out crossed from the right side of the player who serves to the right side of the player of the opposing team, including the rebound on the center line as valid.
The player or couple that first reaches 11 points will win a game, except when both players or couples get 10 points; in this case, the game will be won by the first player or couple that subsequently obtains 2 points of difference (for example: 12-10). A match shall be contested as the best of any odd number of games; the number of games per match varies depending on the competition.
- Acceleration rule
Unless 18 or more points have already been scored, if a game has not finished after 10 minutes (or at any time at the request of both players or pairs) the rush rule will take effect.
From then on, each player will serve one point in turn until the end of the game, and if the receiving player or pair makes 13 correct returns in one play, the point will be scored. Once the rule has come into effect, it will stand until the end of the match.
The service
The serve will begin with the ball resting freely on the open, motionless palm of the server's free hand. The server then throws the ball up as vertically as possible, without giving it spin, so that it rises at least 16cm after leaving the palm of the free hand and then lands without touching anything before being hit. When the ball is descending, the server will hit it so that it first touches his court and then directly touches the receiver's court; in doubles, the ball will successively touch the right midfield of the server and the receiver.
From the start of the serve until it is hit, the ball will be above the playing surface and behind the server's end line, and will not be hidden from the receiver by the server or his doubles partner or by nothing they wear or carry. As soon as the ball has been released, the server's free arm and hand will be removed from the space between the ball and the net.
The play will be annulled if the ball touches the whole of the net during the service, as long as the service is otherwise correct. It will also be a void if the service is served when the receiver or receiving partner is not ready, provided that neither the receiver nor his partner attempts to hit the ball.
Evolution in regulations
Since the first regulations established by the ITTF in 1926, the regulations of this sport have undergone numerous changes.
Thus, for example, to avoid situations such as those that occurred in the 1936 world championships in Prague, where two players took more than two hours to finish a single point, or that of a match between the French player Michel Haguenauer and the Romanian Marin Goldberger that lasted more than seven and a half hours, in 1948 the acceleration rule was established for international competitions, and in 1963 it was incorporated into the regulations.
In the year 2000, in order to slow down the speed of play and make it more attractive to viewers and TV broadcasts, the ITTF increased the diameter of the ball from 38 to 40mm. The following year the ITTF decreased the number of points needed to win a game from 21 to 11 and the service rotation was reduced from five points to two. In national level competitions it is necessary to win three games of 11 points to to win a game, compared to the two games of 21 points that were used with the previous regulations, and at the international level, it is necessary to win four games, instead of the previous three of twenty-one points. This change made every point count, making the game more exciting right from the first goal.
In 2003, the regulation of the service is complemented by the prohibition to hide the ball during the service; as soon as the ball has been released, the server's free arm and hand will be removed from the space between the ball and the net. Previously it was possible to position the non-racquet arm in front of the ball during the serve, concealing to the player who subtracted the impact of the racket with the ball. This change allows serving to be perceived in much more detail, even by spectators, and promotes a game based on the exchange of blows instead of one based on services.
Since September 2008, the use of glues with volatile organic solvents (SOV) has been prohibited. The use of this type of glue increased speed, but the solvents used for its production were dangerous to health.
Clothing
Normal game attire will normally consist of a sleeveless or short-sleeved polo shirt, shorts or a one-piece athletic skirt or dress, socks and sneakers; No other garments may be worn during the game, such as part or all of a tracksuit, unless the referee allows it. It is not allowed to wear clothes of the same color as the game ball used.
The garments used can carry numbers or labels on the back of the shirt to identify a player, his Association or his club, and publicity. Markings or trims on the front or side of a game garment, as well as items worn by a player, such as jewelry, shall not be excessively conspicuous or give off a reflective shine that blinds an opponent, and may not be used clothing with drawings or labels that could be offensive or discredit the game.
Game conditions
- The playing space will be rectangular and not less than 14 m long, 7 m wide and 5 m high; it must be delimited by fences of approximately 75 cm high, all of the same color of dark background, that separate it from the adjacent areas and from the spectators.
- In competitions for the world or Olympic title the luminous intensity, measured at the height of the playing area, must be at least 1000 lux, evenly distributed over the total of the playing area, and, at least, of 500 lux in the rest of the playing area; in other competitions, the intensity will be, at least, of 600 lux, evenly distributed over the playing area, and, at a minimum, of 400 lux.
- When played on several tables at the same time, the level of illumination should be the same for all of them, and the bottom of the game room should not be greater than the minimum in the playing area. The lighting source must be at least 5 m above the ground.
- The background should be, in general, dark and may not contain bright light sources or allow clarity to pass through windows without covering or other openings.
- The soil may not be of light colour, or with reflective or slippery brightness, and its surface cannot be of brick, ceramic, cement or stone; in competitions by the World or Olympic title, the soil should be made of wood or other synthetic material, of a brand and type authorized by the ITTF.
Main competitions
The main international table tennis competitions are:
- The World Championship that takes place every two years, and the Olympic Games, in which four titles are contested: individual male, individual female, double male and female until the year 2004, and by teams since 2008.
- the World Cup, which, since 1980, meets the champions of each continent and the best players of the time.
- The World Circuit (World Tour), a set of tournaments organized by the ITTF that are held around the world where the professional players of the highest level compete, and that closes each season with the Final Phase (World Tour Grand Finals).
The following table shows the players —men and women— who have achieved at least five individual victories in their participation in said competitions:
| Name | Years with victories | CM / JJ. OOO | World Cup | Circuit | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Ma Long
| 2008-2019 | 4 | 2 | 5 | 11 |
| Wang Nan
| 1997-2007 | 3 | 4 | 2 | 9 |
| Liu Shiwen
| 2009-2019 | 1 | 5 | 3 | 9 |
| Ding Ning
| 2011-2018 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 8 |
| Deng Yaping
| 1991-1997 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 7 |
 Angelica Rozeanu
| 1950-1955 | 6 | - | - | 6 |
| Wang Liqin
| 1998-2007 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 6 |
 Mária Mednyánszky
| 1926-1931 | 5 | - | - | 5 |
| Viktor Barna
| 1930-1935 | 5 | - | - | 5 |
| Wang Hao
| 2003-2010 | - | 3 | 2 | 5 |
| Zhang Jike
| 2011-2014 | 3 | 2 | - | 5 |
At the continental level, competitions such as the Latin American Championship, the Pan American Games, the North American Championship, the Asian Games or the European Championship are held. Important continental leagues are also disputed by clubs, such as the Champions League, which has been held between clubs from all over Europe since 1998.
Federated players are assigned a classification that reflects their level of play, especially for their distribution in different categories in competitions or tournaments. The classification system is different in each country; for international competitions, the ITTF publishes a ranking every month, based on the results of players in official competitions.
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