Table Tennis

TABLE TENNIS

The game originated as a sport in Britain during the 1880s, where it was played among the upper-class as an after-dinner parlour game, then commonly known as "wiff-waff". A row of books were stood up along the center of the table as a net, two more books served as rackets and were used to continuously hit a golf-ball from one end of the table to the other. Alternatively table tennis was played with paddles made of cigar box lids and balls made of champagne corks. The popularity of the game led game manufacturers to sell the equipment commercially. Early rackets were often pieces of parchment stretched upon a frame, and the sound generated in play gave the game its first nicknames of "wiff-waff" and "ping-pong". A number of sources indicate that the game was first brought to the attention of Hamley's of Regent Street under the name "Gossima". The name "ping-pong" was in wide use before British manufacturer J. Jaques & Son Ltd trademarked it in 1901. The name "ping-pong" then came to be used for the game played by the rather expensive Jaques's equipment, with other manufacturers calling it table tennis.

It's thought that a game resembling table tennis was in existence in England as early as 1884 and various names were used during the history of table tennis (or should that be the history of ping pong?) with Gossima, Wiff-Waff and Ping Pong all either patented or trademarked.

Around 1898 the English sports company John Jaques & Son were popularising the game and were manufacturing the first table tennis sets. Early versions of table tennis used rackets (bats / paddles) with velum stretched over an outer casing (similar to a small drum) attached to a handle. This gave rise to the name Ping Pong which was derived from the sound that was made by different sized rackets (bats / paddles) striking a ball. As the popularity of the game spread, two rival organisations were set up in England with the "Table Tennis Association" and the "Ping Pong...