Olympic Table Tennis

ExCeL Centre, Royal Victoria Dock, One Western Gateway, London
Olympic Table Tennis image
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Event has ended
This event ended on Wednesday 8th of August 2012
Admission
Ticket only
Location

ExCeL Centre, Royal Victoria Dock, One Western Gateway, London

Nearest Tube/Rail Stations
Custom House 0.12 miles

172 players compete for 4 gold medal spots

Back in the 19th century, table tennis was mainly reserved for the upper class and played as an after dinner sport. To reflect this, the balls were actually champagne corks and cigar boxes were used as the bats. Since then table tennis has gained a massive following of 40 million competitive players making it the largest sport in terms of active participators.
The table used for table tennis is nine feet by five feet with a net running down the middle of the table that is six inches high. Games are played either as individuals or in pairs, with each side trying to hit the ball in such a way that force their opponent to miss the ball, or not be able to return it. The game is played over five sets with the first to eleven points winning the set.

Although table tennis has been very popular for some time, it only featured in the Olympics for the first time when the games were in Seoul in 1988. Since then, the dominant force in this area has always been China, although other countries are now starting to emergence as potential winners.

Table tennis has some very strict rules of play with activities such as attempting to stare out an opponent or unduly delaying a game by tying up shoe laces prohibited. A standard table tennis ball weighs 2.5 grams.

Tags: Sport

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