HISTORY AND ORIGIN

Photo from: brittanica.com

 Upper-class Victorians in England invented table tennis in the1880s

as a genteel, after-dinner alternative to lawn tennis

 Evolved from the ancient Game of Tennis (Jeude Paume)

 A line of books would often be the net, the rounded top of a champagne cork
would be the ball and occasionally a cigar box lid would be a racket.

 Early version of game in 1890 had cloth covered rubber ball, strung racket and
wooden fences around table

 Changes started in 1900 when celluloid ball was used and name changed to ping-
pong due to sound of ball

 Games became popular and was known by different names such as Indoor Tennis •
Pom-Pom • Pim-Pam • Royal Game
 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
1800s and later trademarked in the United States by Parker Brothers, the board game
company
 In 1926, meetings were held in Berlin and London that led to the formation of the
International Table Tennis Federation
 The first World Championships were held in London in 1926
 On April 24, 1927, the English Table Tennis Association was born, under the chairmanship
and direction of Ivor Montague, son of Lord Ewatthling
 The 1950s saw the game turned upside down by the invention of the sponge or sandwich
rubber
 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
 It is estimated there are 40 million competitive table tennis players and countless millions
playing recreationally

Photo from Nymag