Basic Tale Tennis Information

Table tennis equipment

Find the complete list of pong equipment necessary for the practice of ping pong. All rackets, rubbers, wood and table tennis tables are available in the sections below.

Table tennis covers

Table tennis covers list of ping pong covers that players can put in combination on their wood. Table tennis covers are generally classified into the following categories : “backside”, by far the most common for forwards; “soft”, or short Picot cover, for a counter game at the table; “picot long”, very popular with defenders;” antitop”, turned as the backside but completely smooth.

Table tennis wood

Table tennis Wood the wood is with facing the second component of the ping pong racket. Unlike the surface, the table tennis Wood does not require any type of certification, which allows to find all kinds of materials, different weights, a number of folds can vary from one to several half-dozen.

Ping pong Table

The table tennis tables are the last essential element for the practice of ping pong. Whether indoor or outdoor, there are hundreds of different ping pong table top models depending on your activity and budget.

The International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) Was Founded in 1926 and in 1988, Table Tennis Made its Olympic Debut

Current events

Four table tennis competitions are organised at the Olympic Games : men’s and women’s singles, men’s and women’s team tournaments. The doubles events, held between 1988 and 2004, were replaced by the team events at the Beijing Games. Very popular, these tournaments involve teams of three players from the same country.

Numerus clausus

The maximum number of players allowed to participate in the Olympic Games is 86 men and 86 women. A national Olympic Committee (NOC) may not be represented by more than three men and three women. Since China usually has five or more players in the world’s top 20, the race for the selection is particularly tough !

Regulation

In singles, the 16 series heads compete directly in the 32nd final, the other players compete for the remaining 16 spots in direct elimination matches. The tournament is then played single elimination, best of seven games. The men’s and women’s team events are held in two stages. Four-team pool matches are followed by playoffs. The winners of each pool play gold and silver. The second team meets the losers in the semifinals,for the bronze medal.

Aristocratic origins

Historians believe that table tennis originated in the upper Society of Victorian England in the 1880s. At first, it is only a distraction, an alternative to tennis on the grass. At the time, the game was played with an approximate equipment : a row of books served as a net, the rounded end of a champagne stopper served as a ball while a cigar cellar lid was used as a racket !

Evolution

In 1926, competitions were held in Berlin and London, the first steps towards the creation of the table tennis federation. The first World Championships were held in London in 1926. But the sport had to wait until 1988 to make its Olympic debut in Seoul.

Technology comes into play

Table tennis has come a long way since its invention. Today, players use snowshoes, made of special materials : rubber-coated wood, carbon fibre. The bullet, ultra light, is now made of hollow celluloid. This equipment makes it possible to make smashes at more than 150 km / h !

Popular Attraction

It is estimated that 40 million players have been made redundant, to which must be added the many million leisure players. These figures make table tennis the most popular sport in the world. This success is largely due to its huge popularity in China, the dominant nation of table tennis.