The Basics of Table TennisTable tennis, informally known as ping pong, is a sport where 2 to 4 players hit a ball back and forth on a net-lined table with miniature paddles. The sound of a ball striking a paddle is a light knock, pop, or thwack. Competitors are to concede a single bounce on their side of the table before returning the ball to the opponent's side. Play takes place at breakneck speeds, and you must be agile, nimble, and quick-witted. Professional players use speed to their advantage. Experience has honed their reactions to be right on target, and speed is certain death to a less-skilled player. A professional can apply spin to a ball, and it makes the course and bounce of the ball difficult to foretell. Table tennis has more players than any sport, and it's growing in popularity with greater media attention all the time. Tournaments abound all over the world, but there's more about that later. Shattering serves of up to 70 miles per hour can astonish and overwhelm a competitor. Sometimes, slower serves with more spin trick an opponent into an unsteady reaction. The approximate dimensions of the table are 9 ft × 5 ft × 30 in high. A 6 inch tall net divides the table in half, and the rules and concepts are very similar to the sport of tennis. A lot of space is needed for the players to run about, and it's important not to put a table in a confining area. The International Table Tennis Federation recommends foot space of 46 ft × 23 ft and 16 ft of height. Bats and rackets are misleading if a person is thinking of baseball or tennis. The paddles used in table tennis are about 10 inches long with a striking surface of about 6 in × 6 in. Rubber, plywood, sponge, carbon, and synthetic materials have all been used to manufacture paddles. A layer of rubber covers the face of the hitting surface. A table tennis ball is 40 mm, composed of celluloid, and is completely vacuous or hollow. The winner of a match is the first to tally 11 points. The players rotate serves every two points. This is so a player is not able to dominate a game with successive, difficult serves. Preliminaries follow a format of the best of five games, and championships are followed through to the best of seven games. There are several grips in table tennis, and each one confers a certain advantage. The penhold, shakehand, and V-grip can be used to strike the ball in a number of ways, including the speed drive, loop drive, counter drive, flip, smash, chop, slice, block, side drive, lob, or stop. China holds most world titles for table tennis, and the game is very popular in Asia and Europe. Media attention is growing in the United States. International champions reign from Czechoslovakia, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Hungary, Japan, Korea, Singapore, Sweden, and Taiwan. Players must use tactics, fancy footwork, and a cunning repertoire of hits, jumps, striking angles, and body movements to be elite champions of table tennis. |
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