60 Fun Facts About Ping Pong

Since the 2000 rule change, what is the diameter of a regulation ball?

The bigger ball has more air resistance and was brought in to slow the game down for television; world No. 1 Vladimir Samsonov threatened to boycott the World Cup over it.

A game is won by the first player to reach how many points, provided they lead by two?

Games were played to 21 until September 2001, when the ITTF shortened them and cut the serve rotation from five points to two.

During a game, how often does the serve switch between opponents?

Once both players reach ten, they alternate serving a single point each until someone leads by two.

When serving, the ball must be tossed straight up at least how far before it is struck?

The toss must come off an open, flat palm with no spin, so the receiver and umpire can see the serve coming.

How long is a regulation table?

It is 5 feet wide and 2.5 feet high, and the ITTF approves only wooden tables or wood derivatives for competition.

How high is the net?

The playing surface must be uniformly dark and matte so the white or orange ball stands out against it.

How much does a regulation ball weigh?

Dropped from 30.5 cm onto a steel block it must bounce back 24 to 26 cm, a coefficient of restitution of about 0.9.

Under ITTF rules, one side of the paddle's rubber must always be which colour?

The other side was red-only until October 2021, when blue, green, pink and violet were allowed, so opponents can tell which rubber hit the ball.

Which British manufacturer trademarked the name 'ping-pong' in 1901?

The name was already in wide use; after the trademark it came to mean the game played with Jaques's pricey equipment, and everyone else said 'table tennis'.

Which US game company bought the 'ping-pong' name and enforced the trademark in the 1920s?

American associations had to rename themselves 'table tennis' as a result; Escalade Sports later acquired the US trademark.

In the game's Victorian beginnings, what stood in a row along the table to serve as a net?

Two more books were the rackets and the ball was a golf ball; the game is thought to have come home with British officers serving in India.

Celluloid balls came into the game after enthusiast James W. Gibb found novelty balls on a 1901 trip to which country?

The same year E. C. Goode invented the modern racket by gluing pimpled rubber to a wooden blade, and an unofficial world championship followed in 1902.

Since 2015, official balls have been made of what instead of celluloid?

The ITTF's 'poly ball' was introduced for all events after July 2014; balls come in white or orange with a matte finish.

In 1901, E. C. Goode created the modern paddle by fixing what to the wooden blade?

Sponge under the rubber arrived in the 1950s and transformed spin and speed all over again.

The first official World Championships, in 1926, were held in which city?

The ITTF was founded the same year, and Hungary's men went on to win the team title twelve times in the early decades.

By ITTF rule, at least what share of a paddle blade's thickness must be natural wood?

The rest can be carbon fibre, glass fibre or Kevlar; hinoki cypress is a favourite blade wood in Japan.

Britons say 'bat' and Americans say 'paddle'. What term does the ITTF rulebook use?

The wooden part alone is the 'blade', usually one to seven plies of wood about 17 cm long.

The grip in which the paddle is held like a writing instrument is called what?

It is popular in China, Japan and Korea; Chinese players developed the reverse penhold backhand in the 1990s to fix the grip's weak side.

Danny Seemiller, whose name is on a distinctive grip, was a champion from which country?

In 1985 four of the five American players at the World Championships used the Seemiller grip, its high-water mark.

Table tennis became an Olympic sport at which Games?

The men's singles that year is the only Olympic table tennis event in which China has failed to win a medal.

At the 2008 Beijing Olympics, what replaced the men's and women's doubles?

China then swept every medal in the singles that year, which prompted a limit of two singles entries per nation from 2012.

Mixed doubles joined the Olympic table tennis programme at which Games?

Japan's Jun Mizutani and Mima Ito won it, and a mixed team event is scheduled to arrive for Los Angeles 2028.

Jan-Ove Waldner, 'the Mozart of table tennis', won 1992 Olympic singles gold for which country?

He remains the only Olympic singles champion not from China, Japan or South Korea, and he was still playing at elite level at 46.

Because of his extraordinary longevity, Waldner is known in China by what nickname?

In the 1990s he was reportedly more recognisable in China than Bill Clinton, and he is considered the best-known Swede there.

Which Chinese player is the only table tennis athlete with six Olympic gold medals?

The ITTF nicknamed him 'The Dragon' (his given name, Long, means dragon) and, less kindly, 'The Dictator' for his dominance.

A table tennis 'Grand Slam' means singles titles at the Worlds, the World Cup and which other event?

Only six men have done it, and two players, Zhang Yining and Ma Long, have completed it twice.

Which player completed the career Grand Slam in a record 445 days, finishing with Olympic gold in 2012?

He won the 2011 World Championships, the 2011 World Cup and then the Olympics in quick succession, the fourth man ever to do all three.

Paris 2024 men's singles champion Fan Zhendong is affectionately known by what nickname?

The name refers to his stocky build; his Paris win made him the sixth man to complete the Grand Slam.

Why was future four-time Olympic champion Deng Yaping initially kept off China's national team?

At 1.5 metres tall she was thought too small, then won 18 world titles and retired at 24 as the most decorated player in the sport.

Angelica Rozeanu, who won six consecutive women's world singles titles, played for which country?

She was barred from even entering a gymnasium from 1940 to 1944, then came back to dominate the 1950s.

Viktor Barna, a record five-time men's world singles champion in the 1930s, was born in which country?

Born Győző Braun, he later joined the British Army as a parachutist in the Second World War and became a British national in 1952.

The Swaythling Cup was donated in 1926 by the mother of which first ITTF president?

Montagu, an aristocrat's son, was also a film critic and producer who worked with Alfred Hitchcock.

Which future Wimbledon champion won the men's singles world table tennis title in Budapest in 1929?

The St. Bride Vase, still awarded to the men's singles champion, was donated in his honour by a member of London's St. Bride Table Tennis Club.

The Corbillon Cup, the original women's team trophy, vanished in the occupation of which city?

Germany's team had won it in 1939; the cup awarded today is a replica made in 1949.

Ping-pong diplomacy began when Glenn Cowan boarded the Chinese team's bus at the 1971 World Championships in which city?

Cowan had overslept and missed his own team's bus; two days after the photographs ran, the US team was invited to China.

What gift did Chinese champion Zhuang Zedong hand Glenn Cowan on that bus?

Zhuang rejected the badges, handkerchiefs and fans in his bag as not good enough; Cowan could only offer a comb, and later gave him a T-shirt with a peace sign.

The 1971 exchange of players paved the way for which US president's landmark 1972 visit to China?

It was the first time a sitting American president had set foot on the Chinese mainland, and produced the Shanghai Communiqué.

How many of seven 1971 exhibition matches against the visiting Americans did China's table tennis team win?

The premier had instructed the hosts not to win everything; the Americans were the first official US delegation in Beijing since 1949.

In which 1994 film does the title character become a ping-pong celebrity playing against Chinese teams?

He picks up the game while recovering from a war wound and later endorses a paddle maker, funding his shrimp boat.

Which actor co-starred with Dan Fogler in the 2007 ping-pong comedy Balls of Fury?

The film was co-written by Thomas Lennon of Reno 911!, who also appears in it, and was released to generally negative reviews.

The 1972 arcade game Pong was created by Allan Alcorn as a training exercise at which company?

Co-founders Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney were so surprised by the quality that they put it into production, and it became the first commercially successful video game.

Pong's concept was based on a ping-pong game included with which pioneering home console?

Magnavox later sued for patent infringement; the console had launched in 1972 as the first home video game system.

In 1975, the home version of Pong was sold exclusively through which retailer?

It launched for the Christmas season, sold well and spawned a wave of clones; the original is now in the Smithsonian's permanent collection.

Table tennis's 'expedite system' starts if a game is unfinished after how long, with under 18 points scored?

It exists to shorten marathon defensive matches: once in force, players serve one point each in turn for the rest of the match.

Under the expedite system, the receiver wins the point after how many consecutive returns?

That forces the server to attack rather than push endlessly, which is why choppers dislike the rule so much.

Roughly what share of table tennis players at the 2016 Olympics were naturalised citizens?

That was twice the rate of the next sport, basketball; the ITTF tightened its eligibility rules in 2019.

Chinese-born Feng Tianwei, who won three Olympic table tennis medals, represented which country?

That is more Olympic medals than native Singaporeans had won in all other sports combined, a fact that caused some controversy at home.

In 2003 the ITTF moved its headquarters to Lausanne from which English seaside town?

The federation set up its museum in Lausanne at the same time; its first international tournament had been in Berlin in January 1926.

Timo Boll, world No. 1 in 2003, 2011 and 2018, played for which country?

He started at four, coached by his father, and his club moved 170 km so the whole team could train with him daily when he was 14.

What substance, used from the mid-1980s to make table tennis rubbers faster, prompted rules to 'slow the game down'?

Its solvents made the rubber sponge swell and spring; the bigger ball and later a glue ban were the response.

The 'World Championship of Ping Pong' requires wooden paddles covered with what?

'Hardbat' is the related variant with short pips and no sponge; both strip out most of the spin of the modern game.

In the party game 'Round the World', what does each participant do immediately after hitting the ball?

Players circle the table and drop out as they lose points; when two remain, each must hit, put the paddle down, spin round and pick it up again.

Which British sporting goods company filed a patent for a table tennis net in 1883?

The invention is also credited to David Foster in 1890; early players had simply lined up books as a net.

Roughly how many member associations did the ITTF have in the early 2020s?

The ITTF was founded in 1926 and its handbook, first published in 1927, sets the official rules.

What was the ball's diameter before the ITTF enlarged it in October 2000?

The bigger 40 mm ball added air resistance to slow the game for television; the 11-point scoring system followed in 2001.

Before the 2001 change to 11 points, games were played to how many points?

Serve rotation was cut from five points to two at the same time to make games faster and more exciting.

A regulation ball dropped from 30 cm onto the table must bounce to roughly what height?

That works out at about 77 percent; the ITTF approves only wooden tables or their derivatives.

What is the minimum height clearance required for an ITTF-regulation playing space?

The floor area must be at least 14 metres by 7 metres; wheelchair events need at least 8 by 6 metres.

Which journalist noted in Red Star Over China that the Communist forces had a 'bizarre' passion for table tennis?

Around the same time the sport's popularity waned in the Soviet Union, partly over a theory it harmed health.

Which spin has its axis roughly parallel to the ball's path, making it dart sideways on the bounce?

Also called drill-spin, it is used almost exclusively on serves because the Magnus effect barely alters its flight.