Table Tennis free essay sample

Tennis sport got its start near the end of the 19th century in England. After dinner one night, some Victorians decided to turn their dinning room table into a miniature version of lawn tennis. They lines up books as a net, used lids from empty cigar boxes as rackets, and the ball was made from string (table tennis balls were also made from champagne corks or rubber). Started as an after dinner activity, over the years, table tennis would turn into a sport. The sport started out with many different names. Some called it â€Å"whif whaf† other called it â€Å" flim flam† other called it â€Å"gossamer†. The words chosen for the name were derived from the sounds that were made during the game. In 1901 it was registered by J. Jaques amp; Sons ltd as the sport called â€Å"ping pong†. It was later so to the Parker Brothers in the U. S. In 1920 the sport was revived, players supplemented celluloid balls as Ping Pong balls because they were a better fit for the game. The sport also adopted rubber on wooden paddles as rackets and a lower net to speed up the play of the game. Ping Pong changed into a more modern sport, one easier for everyone to play. The sport grew reaching out to the Asian countries; China, Korea, and Japan. From there the first world championship was held in London in 1927. Just before the event The ITTTF (international table tennis federation) was formed by a variety of European and Asian countries. In the 1960’s the French, Hungarians, and Swedish, professionally, ruled the sport. However, the Japanese and Chinese would soon rule the game. It started in 1952 a Japanese player named Horoi Satoh proposed the idea of a foam rubber paddle, which upped the speed of Ping Pong even more. The Japanese started putting spin on the ball, making it a game that required more skill to play. The spin technique introduced by the Japanese put mostly Japanese players at an advantage, thus the Japanese rule began. Afterwards the Chinese climbed to the top and ruled the sport up until the 1990’s, after the Swedish and Koreans in the 1988 Olympic games ended their domination. In the Cold war, China allowed nine American players into China to partake in the sport. These nine Americans were the first in China since the start of the Cold war. This was a sign that the Cold war was improving; it helped international relations with China. This brought two countries that were at odds together.