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At the end of the 19th century it became popular in England. It was known under the names of small tennis, indoor tennis, table tennis, gossima and whiff-whaff. For this game was made a ball of a material called celluloid, which when bouncing made a characteristic noise, from which arose the name of TABLE TENNIS

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Real Federación Española de Tenis de Mesa

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Table of Contents

table tennis, also called (trademark) Ping-Pong, ball game similar in principle to lawn tennis and played on a flat table divided into two equal courts by a net fixed across its width at the middle. The object is to hit the ball so that it goes over the net and bounces on the opponent's half of the table in such a way that the opponent cannot reach it or return it correctly. The lightweight hollow ball is propelled back and forth across the net by small rackets (bats, or paddles) held by the players. The game is popular all over the world. In most countries it is very highly organized as a competitive sport, especially in Europe and Asia, particularly in China and Japan.

History

The game was invented in England in the early days of the 20th century and was originally called Ping-Pong, a trade name. The name table tennis was adopted in 1921-22 when the old Ping-Pong Association formed in 1902 was revived. The original association had broken up about 1905, though apparently the game continued to be played in parts of England outside London and by the 1920s was being played in many countries. Led by representatives of Germany, Hungary, and England, the Fédération Internationale de Tennis de Table (International Table Tennis Federation) was founded in 1926, the founding members being England, Sweden, Hungary, India, Denmark, Germany, Czechoslovakia, Austria, and Wales. By the mid-1990s more than 165 national associations were members.

The first world championships were held in London in 1926, and from then until 1939 the game was dominated by players from central Europe, the men's team event being won nine times by Hungary and twice by Czechoslovakia. In the mid-1950s Asia emerged as a breeding ground of champions, and from that time the individual and team events (for both men and women) have been dominated by athletes from China. The popularity of the game in China was notable for giving rise to so-called "Ping-Pong diplomacy," a period during the 1970s in which Cold War tensions between China and the United States were eased via a series of highly publicized table tennis matches between athletes from the two countries. The first such event-held in Beijing in 1971-is widely credited with paving the way for U.S. Pres. Richard Nixon's historic visit to China the following year. In 1980 the first World Cup was held, and Guo Yuehua of China won the $12,500 first prize. Table tennis became an Olympic sport in 1988, with singles and doubles competition for men and women.

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Table tennis | History, Rules, Equipment, Champions, & Facts

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Table tennis, ball game similar in principle to lawn tennis and played using a lightweight hollow ball and paddles on a flat table divided into two equal courts by a net. Popularly known by the trademarked name Ping-Pong, it is a common recreational activity as well as a competitive Olympic sport.

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According to a study carried out by NASA, it is the most complicated sport that a human being can practice at a professional level. Several studies have shown that the practice of this sport improves, among others, the capacity and the reaction time, the eye coordination hand, concentration and memory

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Table tennis (also popularly known as ping-pong) is a racquet sport that is played between two players or two pairs (doubles). It is an Olympic sport since Seoul 1988, and the sport with the highest number of practitioners, with 40 million players competing all over the world.

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Carlos Machado Sobrados is a table tennis player, 11 times champion of Spain.
Ma Long won the Olympic Games in 2016, in 2015 won its first world championship.