TABLE TENNIS

A table tennis table is 2.74m long and 1.525m wide, positioned 76cm above the floor and divided in half by a net. The sport follows the same basic principles as tennis but has a very different scoring system. Singles matches are played over the best of seven games, with the first player to 11 points (by a margin of two clear points) winning each game.

SPORT HISTORY

Table tennis has come a long way from its late 19th century origins as an after-dinner game played by upper-class English families. More than a century later, table tennis has a greater number of recreational players than any other sport and Olympic-level competition is a breathtaking spectacle. Legend has it that the first players used the lids of cigar boxes for rackets and a rounded-off cork from a champagne bottle as the ball. Old-fashioned names for table tennis include 'ping pong', 'whiff waff' and 'flim flam', reflecting the sound of the ball being struck. Today, the game is played with sophisticated rackets comprising a wooden blade coated with rubber on both sides, and a hollow plastic ball weighing just 2.7g.

The International Table Tennis Federation was founded in 1926 and is one of the largest governing bodies in international sport. Table tennis made its Olympic debut at the Seoul 1988 Games with men's and women's singles and doubles. Since Beijing 2008 the competition has consisted of men's and women's singles and team events, while the Tokyo 2020 competition will also include a mixed doubles event. Each event operates on a knockout format, with players and teams progressing through the draw until the finals.

RULES OF THE GAME

Team matches consist of four singles matches and one doubles match, each played over the best of five games. Each team consists of three players and matches end when a team has won three individual games. In doubles matches, players take turns to hit the ball. Unlike in tennis where a player serves for a whole game, in table tennis the service changes after every two points have been scored. Once the score reaches 10-10, the serve changes after every point. In doubles games, as well as the serve alternating between teams, it alternates between players too.