The history of table tennis dates back hundreds of years, even during the Middle Ages, a game much like so-called “court tennis” was played by the nobility during the 1880s and is widely believed to have become popular due to the growing popularity of both lawn tennis and badminton.
The history of this sport is full of interesting stories. As the sport grew in popularity, especially in Europe, the game was also played on other continents, but in a different way. The story tells of British troops stationed in South Africa playing a variant of the game using a row of books as a net, cigar box tops as paddles, and a carved champagne cork as a ball. The story is one of continual improvement in the materials used for the construction of the tables and fixtures and the rise and fall of different nations as they climbed to the top of the championship ladder, for example the history of Chinese tennis reaches its golden years in the 1950s. to the 1970s.
The first appearance of the name ‘table tennis’ was in a board game in 1887, introduced by New York singer JH. In 1891 the game was beginning to resemble the modern version when John Jacques of London released a game called ‘Gossima’. The game featured drum paddles, a 30cm tall net, and a spiderweb-wrapped cork ball. From this moment on, the game is going from strength to strength. James Gibb brought the first hollow celluloid balls to the United States from England, and the name “ping pong” was registered as a trade name in England. The American rights to the name are sold to Parker Brothers in 1901. Also in 1901, the game was brought to China from Western settlements. By 1902, dotted tennis paddles were beginning to appear and the game was beginning to resemble the one we play today.
The 1920s to 1950s were an era in which Europe dominated the game, with 1926 seeing the establishment of the International Table Tennis Federation. In 1935, the American Ping Pong Association, the US Amateur Table Tennis Association, and the National Table Tennis Association merged to form the US Table Tennis Association, which eventually became renamed US Table Tennis in 1994). As mentioned above, the 1950s to 1970s saw the Chinese make their mark on the history of the sport, when in 1952 Hiroji Satoh of Japan won the World Championship and began the dominance of the Far East, which would only end with the rise of Swedish. dominance in 1989, which would last until the 1990s.
Even a brief history would be beyond the scope of this article and many milestones have been omitted. However, if you choose to play the sport, you can be sure that you are becoming a part of table tennis history. A story that is full of interesting incidents and technical refinement.