HISTORY OF TABLE TENNIS:

Table Tennis was first conceived by a British officer in 1881. He used a dining table and filed a set of books in
the middle of the table. He knitted the web into a cork ball from a wine bottle and used a cigar box cover as a
racket.

The objective of the game, Table tennis is to hit the ball with a racket and return it to the opponent over the net.
Each player is given five consecutive times to start the game. This game can be played in singles wherein there
are two players competing. This can also be played in doubles wherein there are two teams competing.

Pingpong was also popular in Central Europe and during the 1920s National Associations were beginning to
form and due to the sport’s rapid growth, an international governing body was needed. When it regained its
popularity in 1922, different national associations were formed in 1926.

1926 – The International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) was founded in Berlin by 7 European countries such
as Germany, Austria, Hungary, England, Wales, Sweden, and Czechoslovakia. Its main objective was to
formulate laws in table tennis and sees to it that the game is played as a contest for human skills, and the
constant change in the equipment are being disseminated and strictly followed by all.
TABLE TENNIS EQUIPMENT:

Constructed of ¾ -inch (1.9cm) thick fine plywood; 9 ft. (2.74

m.) in length and 5 feet (1.52 m) in width.

The playing surface: should be dark (usually green and non-

reflecting) and should lie in a horizontal plane 2 ft. 6 in.
TABLE
(76cm.) above the floor.

Sidelines and end lines are white and should be ½ to ¾ in. (2

cm.) wide. The centerline is also white, but only 1/8 to 1.4
inch (3mm) wide.

The net is light in texture and stretched across the center of

the table and attached to the outside by vertical
NET
standards. The net should be from 6 to 6 ¾ inches above the
table.
 It is a wooden rubber-faced racket (as mandated by the rules).
The striking surface of the racket must be covered with a
RACKET pimpled rubber facing inward and outward.
OR
PADDLE A single layer of cellular (sponge) rubber may be located
underneath the rubber surface. The two surfaces of the blade
shall be black on one side and bright red on the other side.

A small, celluloid, spherical, white, or yellow in color, 40 mm

PINGPONG in diameter, and 2.5g in weight.
BALL
It is fragile but quite hard to break unless stepped on

TERMINOLOGIES:

1. A RALLY is a period during which the ball is in play.

2. A LET is a rally of which the result is not scored.
3. A POINT is a rally in which the result is scored.
4. A GAME shall be won by the player or pair first scoring 11 points unless both players and pairs score 10
points when the game shall be won by the first player or pair subsequently gaining a lead of 2 points.
5. A MATCH shall consist of the best of any odd number of games (2 out of 3 games’ 3 out of 5 games).
6. The RACKET HAND is the hand carrying the racket.
7. The FREEHAND is the hand not carrying the racket.
8. A player STRIKES the ball by touching it with his racket, held in the hand or with his racket hand below
the wrist.
9. A player VOLLEYS the ball if he strikes it in play when it has not touched his court since last being struck
by his opponent.
10. A player OBSTRUCKS the ball if he, or anything he wears or carries, touches it in play when it was not
passed or over the table or an imaginary extension of his end line, not having touched his court since last
being struck by his opponent.
11. The SERVER is the player due to strike the ball first in the rally.
12. The RECEIVER is the player due to strike the ball following the server.
13. The UMPIRE is the person appointed to decide the result of the rally.
14. The ASSISTANT UMPIRE assistant umpire is the person appointed to assist the umpire with certain
decisions.
15. The END LINE shall be regarded as extending indefinitely in both directions.
16. The ball shall be regarded as PASSING OVER OR AROUND THE NET if it passes under or outside the
projection of the net assembly outside the table or if, in a return, it is stuck after it has bounced back over
the net.

RULES OF THE GAME (Links to an external site.)

 The objective of the game is to hit the ball with the racket or paddle held in the hand over the net. The ball
must strike on the server’s side of the court before striking the top of the table on the opponent’s court.
 Striking the ball before it bounces is not allowed.
 Whoever commits a mistake loses a point and your opponent gains a point.
 A player or pair first scoring eleven (11) points is the winner of the game, unless both players or pairs score
10 points, the game shall be won by the first player or pair subsequently gaining a lead of two points.
 A match is won in three out of five games or two out of three games.

IN PLAY .............. The ball is in play from the moment it is projected from the hand in service until one of the
following has occurred:
1. It has touched one court twice consecutively.
2. It has, except in service, touched each court alternately without having been struck by the racket
immediately.
3. It has been struck by either player more than once consecutively.
4. It has touched either player or anything that the player wears or carries, except the racket or racket hand
below the waist.
5. On the volley, it comes in contact with the racket or the racket hand below the wrist.
6. It has touched any object other than the net and supports.

The SERVICE (Links to an external site.) ............. A good service is delivered by projecting the ball from the
freehand and the projection starts from above the playing surface. The ball must be resting on the palm of the
free hand, which is flat, and the thumb free of the fingers. As it starts to descend, the ball is struck so that it
touches the server’s court first and then, passing directly over or around the net, touches the receiver’s court.
A good return of a served ball must be struck by the receiver on the first bounce so that it passes directly
over or around the net and touches directly on top of the opponent’s court.

SCORING (Links to an external site.) ............... A point is scored by the side that makes the last successful
return prior to the end of a rally. In an unsuccessful return, the ball is missed, struck with the side of a racket
blade having an illegal surface, hit off the table, sent into the net, or hit onto the player’s own half of the court
on the return. Failure to make a good service also scores a point for the opponent unless it is a let.
A POINT ........ A point is awarded to the opponent in the following circumstances:
1. Failure to make a good service, unless a let is declared.
2. Failure to make a good return of a good service or a good return made by the opponent, unless a let is
declared.
3. If the player, the racket, or anything that the player wears or carries touches the net or its support while the
ball is in play.
4. If the player’s free hand touches the playing surface while the ball is in play.
5. If, before the ball in play has passed over the end lines or sidelines, not yet having touched the playing
surface on the player’s side of the table after being struck by the opponent, it comes in contact with the player or
anything the player wears or carries.
A LET (Links to an external site.) ............ A let ball, which is then replayed, is called in the following cases:

1. If the served ball, in passing over the net, touches it or its support, provided that the service would otherwise
have been good or volleyed by the receiver.
2. If a service is delivered when the receiver is not ready, provided always that the receiver may not be deemed
unready if an attempt to strike at the ball is made.
3. If either player is prevented by an accident not under his or her control from serving a good service or
making a good return.

The ORDER OF SERVING AND RECEIVING ENDS (Links to an external site.)

1. The right to choose the initial order of serving, receiving, and ends shall be decided by lot and the winner
may choose to serve or to receive first or to start at a particular end.
2. When one player or pair has chosen to serve or to receive first or to start at a particular end, the other player
or pair shall have the other choice.
3. After every two points have been scored, the receiving player or pair shall become the serving player or pair
and so on until the end of the game, unless both players or pairs score 10 points or the expedite system is in
operation when the sequences of serving and receiving shall be the same but each player shall serve for only
one point in turn.

4. In each game of doubles match, the pair having the right to serve first shall choose which of them will do so
and in the first game of a match, the receiving pair shall decide which of them will receive first; in
subsequent games of the match, the first server having been chosen, the first receiver shall be the player
who served to him in the preceding game.
5. In doubles, at each change of service, the previous receiver shall become the server and the partner of the
previous server shall become the receiver.
6. The player or pair serving first in a game shall receive first in the next game of the match and in the last
possible game of a doubles match, the pair due to the receive next shall change their order of receiving
when the first one pair scores five points.
7. The player or pair starting at one end in a game shall start at the other end in the next game of the match and
in the last possible game of a match the players or pairs shall change ends when first one player or pair
scores five points.