It is considered that table tennis as a sport appeared in England at the end of the 19th century. (Interactive Media Lab, 2012) However, the game appeared in England and France as early as in the 16th century without specific rules. Drawings are preserved, where people, who were playing the old game with rackets with strings, which are similar to those which are used today. Soon enough the game was moved into the room from the open air, and people played on the floor. The game on the tables, appeared later. After some time, the two halves of the table were shifted, and a net was stretched between them. Simple tools and the small size of the ground allowed people to play anywhere. Table tennis became widespread. There were no specific rules. Balls were made of threads, books placed on the table were the net, and pieces of cardboard were rackets.
In the late 1880s, the game became famous largely because of competition among manufacturers of equipment, which helped to improve the rackets and balls. Their chief producer was the American factory of Parker Brothers. (Interactive Media Lab, 2012) This factory produced and exported everything, which was intended for tennis in rooms, to England. However, British companies such as Ayres Ltd. got their patents. Balls were made of rubber or cork and often sutured into tissue. Rackets were not standardized (by the way, rackets are still produced in different shapes, sizes and materials). Undoubtedly, the celluloid ball was a major improvement. (Hoey, 2013). Gradually the shape of the racket began to change. Plywood rackets appeared, and its weight diminished. Shortened handle required to hold the racket in a new way. New materials for pasting the playing surface, such as parchment, leather, and velour, began to be used. Englishman E.C Goode can be regarded as the author of such rackets’ modifications. (Interactive Media Lab, 2012) Due to the rapid flourishing of industry, new materials appeared and were used in sports, so sports equipment varied. And that had a direct impact on the tactics and techniques.
The rules of the game also changed. Especially noticeable was the appearance of spongy, sponge rubber which began to be used as the racket’s overlay. (Hoey, 2013) in the old days, the game was being played by players who stayed very close to the table. But with the appearance of sponge in 1930 the game became more diverse. Sportsmen at that time had to retreat far away from the table and return quickly to it because they only used a defensive style. Englishman Victor Barna made a lot of value in the tactics and techniques; he was five-times world champion (1930-1935). (ITTF, 2014) Due to him, the game was fun and exciting. The interest of audiences to the competition grew noticeably. That was clear when the competitions in London in 1935 for the world championship had about 10 thousand people visiting daily. The game became associated with fast movement, rapid roll, single and serial sharp blows. As a result, in 1936 the Congress of ITTF decided to change the game’s name. Table tennis appeared instead of ping pong. (Interactive Media Lab, 2012) So, the second period, which had offensive play, multi-faceted by means of defense and attack, replaced the first period, which was characterized by simplicity of technical elements and based on long throwing of the ball. But defensive style players were the strongest at that time, so in order to win a point a lot of time was required sometimes.
However, the significant change in the game’s rules can be considered a reduction in the height of the grid (from 17 to 15.25 centimeters), and the establishment of well-defined playing surface height - 76 inches from the floor. It was also prohibited from feeding to tighten up the ball with your fingers. Ping pong was recognized as a sport at the beginning of 1900 in England, when it was held the first official competition. Then in 1901 in India the official tournament took place. It can be considered the first international competition. An Indian athlete Nando, who was one of the best players of the time, won. The name ping pong was recorded in 1901. It came from a combination of two sounds: Ping - sound of the ball when it hit the racket, and Pong - when the ball bounces off the table.
From 1904 to 1921, the popularity of table tennis in Europe and America decreased, largely due to the monopoly of Parker Brothers and John Jaques on equipment and rules of the game. In 1921, table tennis returned to Europe under the present name. In 1926, the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) was founded. (ITTF, 2014) In 1930, thanks to the appearance of sponge rubber, used as a lining on the racket, the game became more diverse. However, in the 30s it was still dominated by players who played a defensive style, which sometimes leads to funny things. In the match for the world championship in the first game Ehrlich (France) and Paneth (Romania) during 2 hours 10 minutes managed to reach the score 1:0. In 1934, the World Cup in Paris was stopped after a meeting between Hagenauer from France and Holdenbergom from Romania, which lasted 8 hours. As a result, in 1936 ITTF limit the duration of the match to one hour. However, this innovation was not enough. The athletes did not have time to play.
Since 1952, with the world championships, a new table tennis era began in Bombay. It is connected with access to the international arena of Japanese athletes. Japanese introduced a new type of coating, and a unique racket grip. And then, almost without using any other attacks, the Japanese proved their power. The reasons why they were good were Excellent knowledge of feeds.. The second was high physical fitness, allowing rapid movement. Hence, self-confidence was the ability to carry accurately out the plan. In Bombay, the world champion among men became Sato. In the women's doubles competition, Narahari and Nishimura won. In total, Japanese athletes took home the four first prizes out of seven. In 1953, Japanese tennis players did not participate in the World Championship, and in 1954 in London again proved themselves and both won the team prize, male and female. In the individual competition Ogimura won. And just in individual competitions during this period the title of world champions awarded 30 times. 12 -Japan, 6 - Romania, 3 - Hungary, 3 – Czechoslovakia, 2 – Yugoslavia, 2 – England, 2 - US. The style of European athletes began to change. The game became more energetic, resourceful. But Japanese athletes did not handover their positions. They again and again emphatically declared themselves. In 1961, the world championship tennis players of Japan used a new blow, which was called top-spin, known as ‘the devil's ball from Tokyo’.
Table tennis is developing today in that direction. From 1930 to1951 Hungary was dominat among the winners of the competition. Since 1951, the best results show representatives of the Asian countries (Japan, Korea, and China). At the World Cup, Japanese athletes used a new blow, topspin in 1961. In 1988, table tennis became an Olympic sport (Seoul, South Korea). Today, about 40 million players yearly take part in official tournaments worldwide. One of the most successful players in the history of table tennis is the Hungarian Victor Barna; he won 40 gold medals in the World Championships. And Maria Mednyanszky, also from Hungary, won 18 medals at the world championships. An interesting record was set at the World Championships in 1981 by the Chinese national team: athletes won 7 gold medals in all kinds of competitions, namely in male and female team, men's and women's singles and mixed doubles. (ITTF, 2014). The fastest tennis players became Jackie Bellinger and Lisa Lomas, who made 173 strikes in just 60 seconds in 1993. (Shubham, 2012). In the Guinness Book of Records has got the achievement of two American amateur players, Rick Bowling and Rich Dewitt. They played table tennis for 10:00 9 minutes, and there was no mistake in this period (Hodges, 2014).
References
Interactive Media Lab (2012).Table Tennis. History. College of Journalism and Communications, University of Florida. Web. <http://iml.jou.ufl.edu/projects/fall04/baksh/history.html>.
ITTF (2014). A Comprehensive History of Table Tennis presented by the ITTF Museum. Web. <http://www.ittf.com/museum/history.html>.
Hodges, L. (2014). Longest Rally. ITTF Courses. Web. 28 March 2014 <http://www.tabletenniscoaching.com/taxonomy/term/3909>.
Hoey, C. (2013). The Table Tennis. Collector. ITTF Museum. No. 70, November 2013. Web. <http://www.ittf.com/museum/TTC70.pdf>.
Shubham (2012). Interesting Table Tennis Facts. Table Tennis. Web. 23 March 2012 <http://sethiztt.blogspot.com/2012/03/table-tennis-world-men-ranking_23.html>.
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