The exact origin of table tennis is unknown. Around 1890, the sport appeared in England as an upper class game and little by little it was spread to the lower classes. It was named "Ping-Pong" by J. Jaques & Son Ltd. because of the sound of the ball hitting the table. The first rackets used were wooden with a long handle with most of the surface covered in cork.

Around 1920, the first associations were formed and the sport started making itself known to the entire world. The International Table Tennis Federation (I.T.T.F.) was founded in 1926 while the first World Championship was held in 1927 and the winner was the Hungarian Dr. Jacobi. At that time, the players used rackets covered with hard pimpled rubbers. This was the first combination of blade and rubber and it was used until the end of 1940.

In the 50's, a Japanese player, Hiroje Satoh, appeared in the World Championship holding a new type of racket. It was a racket covered with a layer of sponge material between the rubber and the blade, which was named "sandwich rubber". This new kind of rubber revolutionized table tennis because of the added spin and speed it gave the ball. In the following years, all the players started using this new type of rubber and they adapted their style to this new material. New techniques were discovered that emphasized the speed and spin making the sport even more spectacular.

The Japanese prevailed over the world in the 50's and they adopted a new grip, which was later modified by the Chinese who became the absolute master of the game till the middle of the 80's. At the end of the 80's and the beginning of the 90's the Swedish team started rising in the ranks and beat the Chinese team in the 1989, 1991, 1993 World Championships. The Chinese team won the 1995 and 1997 World Championships and became the leader in the table tennis scene once again.

During the last years table tennis has progressed a lot. Many alterations of the regulations have been made so as to make the sport more attractive while the media has also contributed to its increasing popularity. Table tennis has been an official Olympic sport since 1988. It is one of the most popular sports with more than 150 associations participating and being members of the I.T.T.F.

The style of the sport has changed completely. Modern table tennis is based on the speed and strength and the new types of strokes demand an in-depth and complete technical knowledge. Some proposed ideas like raising the height of the net, decreasing the duration of the set to eleven points, and increasing of the overall number of sets per match were conceived in order to make the game more attractive.

The following article has taken from Table Tennis: From A to Z book

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