As a ping pong enthusiast, you can’t help but wonder about the history of ping pong. Basically, most people think that table tennis or ping pong started out in China. This is a common misconception although China produces some of the best table tennis players in the world.
So, here is a brief history of ping pong or table tennis to accurately know about its humble beginnings.
Our story begins in England in the year 1880. Table tennis at that time was played by Victorians of the era as a recreational activity. During those times, dinner parties were often associated with table tennis games as a form of entertainment to the guests.
During that time, tennis was a very popular sport. However, because people wanted to play tennis but didn’t want to go outside in their formal attire, they invented a small version of tennis, which is now commonly known as table tennis. Often played indoors, this game became widely popular among most people in England.
During this era, the corks from champagne bottles and knotted pieces of strings were used as the balls. The paddles were lids of cigar boxes. As you can see, table tennis in those times was quite primitive. This is due to the fact that there was no existing table tennis sporting goods store.
However, because of the popularity of the game, a lot of people who wanted to start their own business started opening up sporting goods and designed paddles and specially made balls for table tennis. With this, ping pong developed to be a sport rather than a recreational game.
From these humble beginnings, you will see that the sport of ping pong eventually became very popular among many people.
Today, you will see international tournaments and quite a lot of sporting goods store that sells different kinds of ping pong accessories. You will have access to different kinds of paddles with different handles, and there are even shoes that are specifically designed for playing table tennis.
From corks and cigar lids, table tennis became one of the most popular sports in the world.
So, the next time you think about table tennis originating in China, you should try thinking again. Table tennis or ping pong as most people call this sport, originated in the 1880 in England as a humble recreational game to entertain dinner guests.