table tennis pingpong redirects here for other uses see pingpong disambiguation table tennistable tennis at the highest levelhighest governingbodyittffirst played1880s victorian englandcharacteristicscontactnoteam memberssingle or doublestyperacquet sport indoorequipmentpoly 40mm 157in27g 0095ozglossaryglossary of table tennispresenceolympicsince 1988paralympicsince inaugural 1960 summer paralympics table tennis also known as pingpong is a sport in which two or four players hit a lightweight ball back and forth across a table using small rackets the game takes place on a hard table divided by a net except for the initial serve the rules are generally as follows players must allow a ball played toward them to bounce one time on their side of the table and must return it so that it bounces on the opposite side at least once a point is scored when a player fails to return the ball within the rules play is fast and demands quick reactions spinning the ball alters its trajectory and limits an opponents options giving the hitter a great advantage table tennis is governed by the worldwide organization international table tennis federation ittf founded in 1926 ittf currently includes 226 member associations with several event categories from 1988 until 2004 these were mens singles womens singles mens doubles and womens doubles since 2008 a team event has been played instead of the doubles history parker brothers pingpong game the sport originated in victorian england where it was played among the upperclass as an afterdinner parlour game the name pingpong was in wide use before british manufacturer j jaques son ltd trademarked it in 1901 the name pingpong then came to describe the game played using the rather expensive jaquess equipment with other manufacturers calling it table tennis a similar situation arose in the united states where jaques sold the rights to the pingpong name to parker brothers parker brothers then enforced its trademark for the term in the 1920s making the various associations change their names to table tennis instead of the more common but trademarked term the next major innovation was by james w gibb a british enthusiast of table tennis who discovered novelty celluloid balls on a trip to the us in 1901 and found them to be ideal for the game this was followed by ec goode who in 1901 invented the modern version of the racket by fixing a sheet of pimpled or stippled rubber to the wooden blade table tennis was growing in popularity by 1901 to the extent that tournaments were being organized books being written on the subject and an unofficial world championship was held in 1902 in 1921 the table tennis association was founded and in 1926 renamed the english table tennis association in the 1930s edgar snow commented in red star over china that the communist forces in the chinese civil war had a passion for the english game of table tennis which he found bizarre in the 1950s paddles that used a rubber sheet combined with an underlying sponge layer changed the game dramatically rule changes assortment of 40 mm table tennis balls after the 2000 olympics in sydney the ittf instituted several rule changes that were aimed at making table tennis more viable as a televised spectator sport for the opponent to have time to realize a serve is taking place the ball must be tossed a minimum of 16cm in the air the ittf states that all events after july 2014 are played with a new poly material ball equipment ball table tennis plastic ball 40 mm the international rules specify that the game is played with a sphere having a mass of 27 grams 0095oz and a diameter of 40 millimetres 157in the ittf approval can be seen printed on the ball the 40mm ball was introduced after the 2000 summer olympics table diagram of a table tennis table showing the official dimensions the table is 274m 90ft long 1525m 50ft wide and 76cm 25ft high with any continuous material so long as the table yields a uniform bounce of about 23cm 91in when a standard ball is dropped onto it from a height of 30cm 118in or about 700177000000000000077 racketpaddle table tennis racket players are equipped with a laminated wooden racket covered with rubber on one or two sides depending on the grip of the player the ittf uses the term racket though bat is common in britain and paddle in the us and canada the wooden portion of the racket often referred to as the blade commonly features anywhere between one and seven plies of wood though cork glass fiber carbon fiber aluminum fiber and kevlar are sometimes used according to the ittf regulations at least 85 of the blade by thickness shall be of natural wood common wood types include balsa limba and cypress or hinoki which is popular in japan the average size of the blade is about 17 centimetres 67in long and 15 centimetres 59in wide although the official restrictions only focus on the flatness and rigidity of the blade itself these dimensions are optimal for most play styles table tennis regulations allow different surfaces on each side of the racket gameplay competitive table tennis starting a game according to ittf rule 2131 the first service is decided by lot it is also common for one player or the umpirescorer to hide the ball in one or the other hand usually hidden under the table allowing the other player to guess which hand the ball is in the correct or incorrect guess gives the winner the option to choose to serve receive or to choose which side of the table to use a common but nonsanctioned method is for the players to play the ball back and forth three times and then play out the point this is commonly referred to as serve to play rally to serve play for serve or volley for serve service and return service by alexander shibaev in game play the player serving the ball commences a play the server strikes the ball with the racket on the balls descent so that it touches first his court and then touches directly the receivers court without touching the net assembly in casual games many players do not toss the ball upward however this is technically illegal and can give the serving player an unfair advantage the ball must remain behind the endline and above the upper surface of the table known as the playing surface at all times during the service the server cannot use hisher body or clothing to obstruct sight of the ball the opponent and the umpire must have a clear view of the ball at all times if the umpire is doubtful of the legality of a service they may first interrupt play and give a warning to the server if the serve is a clear failure or is doubted again by the umpire after the warning the receiver scores a point if the service is good then the receiver must make a good return by hitting the ball back before it bounces a second time on receivers side of the table so that the ball passes the net and touches the opponents court either directly or after touching the net assembly thereafter the server and receiver must alternately make a return until the rally is over returning the serve is one of the most difficult parts of the game as the servers first move is often the least predictable and thus most advantageous shot due to the numerous spin and speed choices at his or her disposal let a let is a rally of which the result is not scored and is called in the following circumstances the ball touches the net in service service provided the service is otherwise correct or the ball is obstructed by the player on the receiving side obstruction means a player touches the ball when it is above or traveling towards the playing surface not having touched the players court since last being struck by the player when the player on the receiving side is not ready and the service is delivered players failure to make a service or a return or to comply with the laws is due to a disturbance outside the control of the player play is interrupted by the umpire or assistant umpire a let is also called foul service if the ball hits the servers side of the table if the ball does not pass further than the edge and if the ball hits the table edge and hits the net scoring table tennis umpire a point is scored by the player for any of several results of the rally the opponent fails to make a correct service or return after making a service or a return the ball touches anything other than the net assembly before being struck by the opponent the ball passes over the players court or beyond their end line without touching their court after being struck by the opponent the opponent obstructs the ball the opponent strikes the ball twice successively note that the hand that is holding the racket counts as part of the racket and that making a good return off ones hand or fingers is allowed it is not a fault if the ball accidentally hits ones hand or fingers and then subsequently hits the racket the opponent strikes the ball with a side of the racket blade whose surface is not covered with rubber the opponent moves the playing surface or touches the net assembly the opponents free hand touches the playing surface as a receiver under the expedite system completing 13 returns in a rally the opponent that has been warned by the umpire commits a second offense in the same individual match or team match if the third offence happens 2 points will be given to the player a game shall be won by the player first scoring 11 points unless both players score 10 points when the game shall be won by the first player subsequently gaining a lead of 2 points a match shall consist of the best of any odd number of games in competition play matches are typically best of five or seven games alternation of services and ends service alternates between opponents every two points regardless of winner of the rally until the end of the game unless both players score ten points or the expedite system is operated when the sequences of serving and receiving stay the same but each player serves for only one point in turn deuce the player serving first in a game receives first in the next game of the match after each game players switch sides of the table in the last possible game of a match for example the seventh game in a best of seven matches players change ends when the first player scores five points regardless of whose turn it is to serve service is subject to change on game point of the match upon the possible last point of the match the player with the lesser score serves if the sequence of serving and receiving is out of turn or the ends are not changed points scored in the wrong situation are still calculated and the game shall be resumed with the order at the score that has been reached doubles game service zone in doubles game in addition to games between individual players pairs may also play table tennis singles and doubles are both played in international competition including the olympic games since 1988 and the commonwealth games since 2002 in 2005 the ittf announced that doubles table tennis only was featured as a part of team events in the 2008 olympics in doubles all the rules of single play are applied except for the following service a line painted along the long axis of the table to create doubles courts bisects the table this lines only purpose is to facilitate the doubles service rule which is that service must originate from the right hand box in such a way that the first bounce of the serve bounces once in said right hand box and then must bounce at least once in the opponent sides right hand box far left box for server or the receiving pair score a point order of play serving and receiving players must hit the ball in turn for example if a is paired with b x is paired with y a is the server and x is the receiver the order of play shall be axby the rally proceeds this way until one side fails to make a legal return and the other side scores at each change of service the previous receiver shall become the server and the partner of the previous server shall become the receiver for example if the previous order of play is axby the order becomes xbya after the change of service in the second or the latter games of a match the game begins in reverse order of play for example if the order of play is axby at beginning of the first game the order begins with xayb or ybxa in the second game depending on either x or y being chosen as the first server of the game that means the first receiver of the game is the player who served to the first server of the game in the preceding game in each game of a doubles match the pair having the right to serve first shall choose which of them will do so the receiving pair however can only choose in the first game of the match when a pair reaches 5 points in the final game the pairs must switch ends of the table and change the receiver to reverse the order of play for example when the last order of play before a pair score 5 points in the final game is axby the order after change shall be aybx if a still has the second serve otherwise x is the next server and the order becomes xayb mens doubles brothers dmitry mazunov and andrey mazunov in 1989 womens doubles finals 2013 world table tennis championships mixed doubles finals 2013 world table tennis championships expedite system if a game is unfinished after 10 minutes play and fewer than 18 points have been scored the expedite system is initiated the umpire interrupts the game and the game resumes with players serving for one point in turn if the expedite system is introduced while the ball is not in play the previous receiver shall serve first under the expedite system the server must win the point before the opponent makes 13 consecutive returns or the point goes to the opponent the system can also be initiated at any time at the request of both players or pairs once introduced the expedite system remains in force until the end of the match a rule to shorten the time of a match it is mainly seen in defensive players games grips though table tennis players grip their rackets in various ways their grips can be classified into two major families of styles penhold and shakehand the rules of table tennis do not prescribe the manner in which one must grip the racket and numerous grips are employed penhold the penhold grip is sonamed because one grips the racket similarly to the way one holds a writing instrument sometimes a combination of the two styles occurs wherein the middle ring and fourth fingers are straight but still stacked or where all fingers may be touching the back of the racket but are also in contact with one another japanese and korean penholders will often use a squareheaded racket for an awayfromthetable style of play traditionally these squareheaded rackets feature a block of cork on top of the handle as well as a thin layer of cork on the back of the racket for increased grip and comfort penhold styles are popular among players originating from east asian countries such as china japan south korea and taiwan traditionally penhold players use only one side of the racket to hit the ball during normal play and the side which is in contact with the last three fingers is generally not used this configuration is sometimes referred to as traditional penhold and is more commonly found in squareheaded racket styles however the chinese developed a technique in the 1990s in which a penholder uses both sides of the racket to hit the ball where the player produces a backhand stroke most often topspin known as a reverse penhold backhand by turning the traditional side of the racket to face ones self and striking the ball with the opposite side of the racket this stroke has greatly improved and strengthened the penhold style both physically and psychologically as it eliminates the strategic weakness of the traditional penhold backhand media all and maxwidth720pxmwparseroutput tmultithumbinnerwidth100importantmaxwidthnoneimportantmwparseroutput tmulti tsinglefloatnoneimportantmaxwidthnoneimportantwidth100importanttextaligncentershakehand gripforehandbackhand shakehand the shakehand grip is sonamed because the racket is grasped as if one is performing a handshake though it is sometimes referred to as the tennis or western grip it bears no relation to the western tennis grip which was popularized on the west coast of the united states in which the racket is rotated 90 and played with the wrist turned so that on impact the knuckles face the target in table tennis western refers to western nations for this is the grip that players native to europe and the americas have almost exclusively employed the shakehand grips simplicity and versatility coupled with the acceptance among toplevel chinese trainers that the european style of play should be emulated and trained against has established it as a common grip even in china seemiller the seemiller grip is named after the american table tennis champion danny seemiller who used it it is achieved by placing your thumb and index finger on either side of the bottom of the racquet head and holding the handle with the rest of your fingers since only one side of the racquet is used to hit the ball two contrasting rubber types can be applied to the blade offering the advantage of twiddling the racket to fool the opponent seemiller paired inverted rubber with antispin rubber many players today combine inverted and longpipped rubber the grip is considered exceptional for blocking especially on the backhand side and for forehand loops of backspin balls the seemiller grips popularity reached its apex in 1985 when four danny seemiller ricky seemiller eric boggan and brian masters of the united states five participants in the world championships used it shakehand grip vladimir samsonov chinese penhold ma lin traditional penhold ryu seungmin types of strokes table tennis strokes generally break down into offensive and defensive categories offensive strokes hit a direct hit on the ball propelling it forward back to the opponent this stroke differs from speed drives in other racket sports like tennis because the racket is primarily perpendicular to the direction of the stroke and most of the energy applied to the ball results in speed rather than spin creating a shot that does not arc much but is fast enough that it can be difficult to return a speed drive is used mostly for keeping the ball in play applying pressure on the opponent and potentially opening up an opportunity for a more powerful attack loop perfected during the 1960s the loop is essentially the reverse of the speed drive the racket is much more parallel to the direction of the stroke closed and the racket thus grazes the ball resulting in a large amount of topspin a good loop drive will arc quite a bit and once striking the opponents side of the table will jump forward much like a kick serve in tennis counterhit the counterhit is usually a counterattack against drives normally high loop drives the racket is held closed and near to the ball which is hit with a short movement off the bounce immediately after hitting the table so that the ball travels faster to the other side a welltimed accurate counterdrive can be as effective as a smash flip when a player tries to attack a ball that has not bounced beyond the edge of the table the player does not have the room to wind up in a backswing the ball may still be attacked however and the resulting shot is called a flip because the backswing is compressed into a quick wrist action a flip is not a single stroke and can resemble either a loop drive or a loop in its characteristics what identifies the stroke is that the backswing is compressed into a short wrist flick smash the offensive trump card is the smash a player will typically execute a smash when his or her opponent has returned a ball that bounces too high or too close to the net smashing consists of using a large backswing and rapid acceleration to impart as much speed on the ball as possible the goal of a smash is to get the ball to move so quickly that the opponent simply cannot return it because the ball speed is the main aim of this shot often the spin on the ball is something other than topspin sidespin can be used effectively with a smash to alter the balls trajectory significantly although most intermediate players will smash the ball with little or no spin an offensive table tennis player will think of a rally as a buildup to a winning smash defensive strokes push the push or slice in asia is usually used for keeping the point alive and creating offensive opportunities a push resembles a tennis slice the racket cuts underneath the ball imparting backspin and causing the ball to float slowly to the other side of the table while not obvious a push can be difficult to attack because the backspin on the ball causes it to drop toward the table upon striking the opponents racket in order to attack a push a player must usually loop the ball back over the net often the best option for beginners is to simply push the ball back again resulting in pushing rallies against good players it may be the worst option because the opponent will counter with a loop putting the first player in a defensive position another response to pushing is flipping the ball when it is close to the net pushing can have advantages in some circumstances such as when the opponent makes easy mistakes chop a chop is the defensive backspin counterpart to the offensive loop drive a chop is essentially a bigger heavier push taken well back from the table the racket face points primarily horizontally perhaps a little bit upward and the direction of the stroke is straight down the object of a defensive chop is to match the topspin of the opponents shot with backspin a good chop will float nearly horizontally back to the table in some cases having so much backspin that the ball actually rises such a chop can be extremely difficult to return due to its enormous amount of backspin some defensive players can also impart nospin or sidespin variations of the chop block the block is a simple shot but nonetheless can be devastating against an attacking opponent a block is executed by simply placing the racket in front of the ball right after the ball bounces thus the ball rebounds back toward the opponent with nearly as much energy as it came in with this requires precision since the balls spin speed and location all influence the correct angle of a block it is very possible for an opponent to execute a perfect loop drive or smash only to have the blocked shot come back at him just as fast due to the power involved in offensive strokes often an opponent simply cannot recover quickly enough and will be unable to return the blocked shot blocks almost always produce the same spin as was received many times topspin depending on the spin of the ball the block may be returned to an unexpected side of the table this may come to your advantage as the opponent may not expect this lob the defensive lob is possibly the most impressive shot since it propels the ball about five metres in height only to land on the opponents side of the table with great amounts of spin thus though backed off the table by tens of feet and running to reach the ball a good defensive player can still win the point using good lobs however at the professional level lobbers will lose the point most of the time so the lob is not used unless it is really necessary effects of spin adding spin onto the ball causes major changes in table tennis gameplay although nearly every stroke or serve creates some kind of spin understanding the individual types of spin allows players to defend against and use different spins effectively 4 phases in a backspin curve backspin backspin is where the bottom half of the ball is rotating away from the player and is imparted by striking the base of the ball with a downward movement it is actually possible to smash with backspin offensively but only on high balls that are close to the net 4 phases in a topspin curve topspin the topspin stroke has a smaller influence on the first part of the ballcurve like the backspin stroke however the axis of spin remains roughly perpendicular to the trajectory of the ball thus allowing for the magnus effect to dictate the subsequent curvature after the apex of the curve the ball dips downwards as it approaches the opposing side before bouncing on the bounce the topspin will accelerate the ball much in the same way that a wheel which is already spinning would accelerate upon making contact with the ground when the opponent attempts to return the ball the topspin causes the ball to jump upwards and the opponent is forced to compensate for the topspin by adjusting the angle of his or her racket this is known as closing the racket the speed limitation of the topspin stroke is minor compared to the backspin stroke this stroke is the predominant technique used in professional competition because it gives the opponent less time to respond in table tennis topspin is regarded as an offensive technique due to increased ball speed lower biomechanical efficiency and the pressure that it puts on the opponent by reducing reaction time it is possible to play defensive topspinlobs from far behind the table but only highly skilled players use this stroke with any tactical efficiency topspin is the least common type of spin to be found in service at the professional level simply because it is much easier to attack a topspin ball that is not moving at high speed sidespin this type of spin is predominantly employed during service wherein the contact angle of the racket can be more easily varied unlike the two aforementioned techniques sidespin causes the ball to spin on an axis which is vertical rather than horizontal the axis of rotation is still roughly perpendicular to the trajectory of the ball in this circumstance the magnus effect will still dictate the curvature of the ball to some degree another difference is that unlike backspin and topspin sidespin will have relatively very little effect on the bounce of the ball much in the same way that a spinning top would not travel left or right if its axis of rotation were exactly vertical this makes sidespin a useful weapon in service because it is less easily recognized when bouncing and the ball loses less spin on the bounce sidespin can also be employed in offensive rally strokes often from a greater distance as an adjunct to topspin or backspin this stroke is sometimes referred to as a hook the hook can even be used in some extreme cases to circumvent the net when away from the table corkspin players employ this type of spin almost exclusively when serving but at the professional level it is also used from time to time in the lob unlike any of the techniques mentioned above corkspin or drillspin has the axis of spin relatively parallel to the balls trajectory so that the magnus effect has little or no effect on the trajectory of a corkspun ball upon bouncing the ball will dart right or left according to the direction of the spin severely complicating the return in theory this type of spin produces the most obnoxious effects but it is less strategically practical than sidespin or backspin because of the limitations that it imposes upon the opponent during their return aside from the initial direction change when bouncing unless it goes out of reach the opponent can counter with either topspin or backspin a backspin stroke is similar in the fact that the corkspin stroke has a lower maximum velocity simply due to the contact angle of the racket when producing the stroke to impart a spin on the ball which is parallel to its trajectory the racket must be swung more or less perpendicular to the trajectory of the ball greatly limiting the forward momentum that the racket transfers to the ball corkspin is almost always mixed with another variety of spin since alone it is not only less effective but also harder to produce competition competitive table tennis is popular in east asia and europe and has been the most important international competitions are the world table tennis championships the table tennis world cup the olympics and the ittf world tour continental competitions include the following european championships europe top16 the asian championships the asian games chinese players have won 60 of the mens world championships since 1959 there are also professional competitions at the clubs level the respective leagues of austria belgium china specifically the china table tennis super league france germany and russia are examples of the highest level there are also some important international club teams competitions such as the european champions league and its former competitor the european club cup where the top club teams from european countries compete notable players for a more comprehensive list see list of table tennis players an official hall of fame exists at the ittf museum janove waldner of sweden first completed the grand slam at 1992 olympic games deng yaping of china is the first female recorded at the inaugural womens world cup in 1996 the following table presents an exhaustive list of all players to have completed a grand slam name gender nationality times won olympics world championships world cup janove waldner male swe 1 1992 2 1989 1997 1 1990 deng yaping female china 2 1992 1996 3 1991 1995 1997 1 1996 liu guoliang male china 1 1996 1 1999 1 1996 kong linghui male china 1 2000 1 1995 1 1995 wang nan female china 1 2000 3 1999 2001 2003 4 1997 1998 2003 2007 zhang yining female china 2 2004 2008 2 2005 2009 4 2001 2002 2004 2005 zhang jike male china 1 2012 2 2011 2013 2 2011 2014 li xiaoxia female china 1 2012 1 2013 1 2008 ding ning female china 1 2016 3 2011 2015 2017 2 2011 2014 ma long male china 1 2016 2 2015 2017 2 2012 2015 jeanphilippe gatien france and wang hao china won both the world championships and the world cup but lost in the gold medal matches at the olympics jrgen persson sweden also won the titles except the olympic games persson is one of the three table tennis players to have competed at seven olympic games ma lin china won both the olympic gold and the world cup but lost three times in 1999 2005 and 2007 in the finals of the world championships governance main category table tennis organizations founded in 1926 the international table tennis federation ittf is the worldwide governing body for table tennis which maintains an international ranking system in addition to organizing events like the world table tennis championships on many continents there is a governing body responsible for table tennis on that continent for example the european table tennis union ettu is the governing body responsible for table tennis in europe table tennis portal international table tennis federation list of ittf pro tour winners list of table tennis players glossary of table tennis disability table tennis classification table squash pingpongo headis pong bibliography uzorinac zdenko 2001 ittf 1926 2001 table tennis legends ittf isbn2940312001 oclc248920627 charyn jerome 2002 sizzling chops devilish spins pingpong and the art of staying alive four walls eight windows isbn1568582420 hodges larry 1993 table tennis steps to success human kinetics isbn0873224035 international table tennis federation 2011 ittf handbook 20112012 archived from the original on 6 july 2010 retrieved 25 december 2011 seemiller dan 1996 winning table tennis skills drills and strategies human kinetics isbn0880115203 look up table tennisor pingpong in wiktionary the free dictionary wikimedia commons has media related to table tennis official ittf website official website of usa table tennis vteinternational table tennis ittf olympic games paralympics youth olympics world championships team junior para world cup world tour grand finals challenge series africa attf african championships africa cup allafrica games americas nattu ultm pan american championships pan american cup pan american games 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