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History of Table Tennis
Origins
Great Britain is considered to be the home of table tennis. It was first played, probably, by university students. In 1891 a patent for the game was registered by Charles Barter of Gloucestershire, England.
About the same time, James Gibb, who was a founder member of the Amateur Athletics Association, brought some toy celluloid balls back from a trip to America, and used them to replace the cork or rubber balls which had previously been used for the new game.
The new balls were immediately popular, and several manufacturers began to market equipment with a variety of new names, such as 'Gossima', 'Flim Flam', 'Whiff Waff', and also 'Table Tennis'.
When new rackets were introduced, which were hollow and covered with vellum, the name 'Ping pong' was suggested, by James Gibb, to manufacturers John Jacques Ltd, from the 'ping' sound the ball made when it made contact with the racket.
As early as 1901, there were tournaments being staged, with over 300 competitors, with prizes of up to 25 pounds. This was a sensible amount of prize money at the time. Soon after, the Ping Pong Association was formed. This was renamed to the Table Tennis Association in 1922, to the relief of keen players.
The game spreads
In 1902, a visiting Japanese professor took the game back to Japan and introduced it to university students. Shortly after, a British businessman, Edward Shires, took the game to Vienna, Austria, and Budapest, Hungary.
Back in Britain, an All England Club was formed in 1922. On 24 April 1927, the English Table Tennis Association was formed.
The first World Championships were held in 1927, to be played every two years, and were won by the Hungarian Dr. Jacobi, and apart from Fred Perry winning in 1929, Hungary dominated the game throughout the 1930's, led by Victor Barna. In this time, the game developed into a proper sport, and was taken more seriously.
In the 1950's, the bats became rubber covered, introduced by the Japanese, and this made the game more challenging as spin could be added to any stroke. The International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) regulated the new bats to prevent players from gaining an unfair advantage.
The game is popular worldwide, including countries such as Germany to China, where millions play. Although exact figures are not available, it is possible that table tennis is the most participated in sport in the world, and if not, it is almost certainly in the most popular six.
In 1988, at the Olympic Games in Seoul, South Korea, table tennis was featured for the first time. The men's singles final, which was televised, attracted an audience of more than 2 billion.
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