Whether you are just learning how to play ping pong or are an experienced player and competitor, you may be interested in a few details about this popular game. Ping pong, as you probably know, is also referred to as table tennis due to the similar moves that are made to score a point. Then there are the official rules of the game, which were originally created in 1926 by The International Governing Body.
Modern table tennis matches last an average of 30 minutes at the elite level. The top players of this game are able to smash the ball at awe-inspiring speeds. Make an educated guess how fast they can do this. Can you imagine keeping your eye on a ball that’s moving at speeds that exceed 100 miles per hour?
People aged six and older participate in table tennis. In 2016 alone, this amounted to about 16.57 million players! Since some of these individual may be training for competitions, they may have the opportunity to test their skills against a ping pong robot. Furthermore, these ping pong robots are also table tennis tutors that assist players with developing the skills and coordination necessary to up their game.
Did you know that table tennis was actually banned by the Soviet Union once upon a time? That’s right! Since the powers that be believed it could be harmful to the eyes, they banned this game from 1930 to 1950.
How many players do you think compete in sanctioned tournaments every year? Currently, that number exceeds ten million players! When it comes to competing in World Championships, China has won 109 out of 131 of these competitions since 1981.
Other world-record holders are Jackie Bellinger and Lisa Lomas. In 1993, they set the record for hitting the most balls back and forth in 60 seconds. How many do you think they hit? Just imagine striking 173 balls in just a minute! That’s lightning-fast to say the very least.
If you recently discovered that you want to play this game, you’ll need a variety of ping pong supplies. In addition to having a ping pong table, you’ll also need table tennis rackets and balls. It’s always a good idea to have a large supply of table tennis balls in case they go flying out of sight. You may also want to consider having a ping pong robot to tutor you in the game as well.