Table tennis known as ping pong, is a sport in which mostly two or four players hit a light ball back and forth using rackets made specially for this sport. How come it flies here one time, and the other direction the next? Except for the initial serve, players allow the ball played toward them only one bounce on their side of the table and return it so it bounces on the opposite side. Points are received when a player fails to return the ball within the rules. Here comes the scores then.
You may wonder what the difference between Table Tennis and Ping-Pong is; many years ago, when we first met with these words, it was the first question asked. Sport and Game. This is the difference.”Ping-Pong” has been a family entertainment played by stretching a piece of cloth over a dining-room table. However Table Tennis had its own World Championships starting from 1926. It had a place in the Olympic Games since 1988 because it is a sport.
Gao Ning (China)
However you may say that “Well, there isn’t really any difference between them; they are the same.”
Table tennis is famous in these countries; China, Hungary, Japan, Czech Republic, Romania, UK, Sweden, USA, Austria and Germany. They are also top 10 in gold medal winning.
In Turkey table tennis has started in the 1920s and the first tournament has been held by Altınordu Sports Club. Then the sport has been forgotten and lost its popularity. In 1948 it became popular again and there were some players who tried very hard for it. In 1966 the federation has been separated from tennis and became an independent entity. In 1967 the modern understanding of this sport arose and players gained many international medals. Some Turkish players who were very famous are; Güneri ARTUNKAL, Hamit PİSKİN, Selda DOĞAN, Kadriye POYRAZOĞLU, Oktay ÇİMEN and Gürhan YILDIZ.
Timo Boll (Germany)
Here are the tournaments or games to be played nowadays ;
ETTU Cup Men and Women Round 4 10-14 December 2010
Under Age 21 BALKANS CHAMPIONSHIP BURSA 17-19 December 2010
1ST LEAGUE 2.PHASE İSTANBUL 17-18-19 December 2010
SUPERLEAGUEG 1.STEP FINAL BURSA 25-26 December 2010
There are also table tennis world cups.The table tennis World Cup first took place in Hong Kong in August 1980 as an experimental event, but it was so successful that it’s been contested every year since. Separate tournaments are staged for men and women, but the women’s event only started in 1996, 16 years after the first Men’s World Cup.
J O Waldner (Sweden)
The World Cup is an invitational event, and was initially for 16 of the World’s top players. But 2009 saw a slight change of format and the number of players was increased to 19. Table tennis is controlled by the worldwide organization International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) and it has been founded in 1926. ITTF currently includes 210 member associations.
Since 1988, table tennis has been an Olympic sport, with many categories. From 1988 until 2004, the categories has been: men’s singles, women’s singles, men’s doubles and women’s doubles. Since 2008 the doubles have been replaced by the team events.
Table tennis is a very rough sport so that while you are playing table tennis you should wear a comfortable t-shirt and shorts. You should also have a racket that fits your hand properly. If you are a pro you should have a pro racket to beat your opponent. You need a good table tennis table. The ball has to bounce a lot.
Here are some brands famous in table tennis:
Yasaka, Stiga, Andro, Banda, Butterfly, Donic, Dunlop
Consequently; table tennis is a very hard sport to play but it is also an enjoyable sport. Altough it is not a very well known sport in our country, some schools support this sport and allow students to play among themselves in their spare times at school, organize tournaments and camps.
As you can see, it’s more than a ping and more than a pong !
