Table tennis

In table tennis players use small paddles to hit a light 40 mm ball over a net across a table. The ball can travel at more than 100 km/h, so the game demands lightning reactions and spin technique. Games are played to 11 points.

History

The game began in 1880s England as an after-dinner amusement on the dining table and spread under the name "ping-pong". The International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) and the first World Championships both date from 1926 in London. Table tennis has been an Olympic sport since Seoul 1988, and China has dominated it in recent decades.

Major competitions

The Olympic Games, the World Championships (singles and team), the WTT series and the European and Asian Championships.

Table tennis in the Turkic world

Hungary was the first great power of the sport: Mária Mednyánszky became the first women's world champion in 1926, and Viktor Barna won five world singles titles and 22 world gold medals in all. Today players from Türkiye, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan and Uzbekistan compete at European and Asian events, and Baku hosted the table tennis tournament of the 2015 European Games.