Racket & Paddle Sports 🇬🇧United Kingdom Olympic19th century

Table Tennis

Fast-paced indoor racket sport played on a 9-foot table divided by a low net — hit a lightweight ball with a rubber paddle before it bounces twice.

📐table⏱~30 min🌤indoor

What is Table Tennis?

Table Tennis is a racket sport played by two (singles) or four (doubles) players who use small paddles to hit a lightweight ball back and forth across a 2.74 m × 1.525 m table divided by a 15.25 cm net. The game originated in England in the 1880s as a Victorian-era parlour game called 'Whiff-Whaff' or 'Ping Pong', evolved with celluloid balls in the 1900s, and grew into a global sport with the founding of the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) in 1926. Table tennis debuted at the Olympics in Seoul 1988 and has since been dominated almost totally by China — Chinese players have won 32 of 37 Olympic gold medals (through 2024). The sport moved from 21-point games to 11-point in 2001 (making matches faster and TV-friendlier), and from celluloid to 40+ mm polypropylene balls in 2014.

Quick facts

How it works

Objective

Score 11 points before your opponent, then win the required number of games (3 in best-of-5 or 4 in best-of-7).

Match structure

The serve alternates every 2 points (unlike tennis). To win a point, ensure the ball bounces once in your court, once in your opponent's court, and the opponent fails to return it legally. A game is to 11 points with a 2-point margin. A match is best-of-5 or best-of-7 games. At 10-10 in a game, the serve alternates every 1 point.

Rules

Basic rules

The serve
Ball must be tossed upwards from an open palm (min 16 cm), then struck so it bounces on the server's side, then over/around the net, then on the receiver's side.
Return
Ball must be returned so it bounces on the opponent's side of the table (or over the end line/side line legally).
Alternating serves
Serve changes every 2 points until 10-10, then every 1 point.
Point ending
Point ends if the ball hits the net without going over, bounces on the wrong side, is struck twice by the same player, or the returner fails to hit it before the second bounce.
Doubles specifics
Serve must go from server's right court to receiver's right court (diagonally). Partners must alternate hits — you cannot hit twice in a row on the same team.
Net cord
If the ball touches the net on serve and still lands legally, it's a 'let' — serve is replayed. Net cord in a rally is play-on.
Ball off the edge
Legal — even a top edge hit that bounces sideways counts as in.

Advanced rules

Two-colour rule
Rackets must have one red and one black rubber — so opponents can identify spin capabilities.
Expedite system
If a game reaches 10 minutes without ending, the expedite rule activates: server must win the point within 13 strokes or forfeit.
Time-outs
Each side gets one 1-minute time-out per match.
Legal serve — visible ball
Ball must be tossed clearly upward with no hidden spin; the receiver must be able to see the ball's contact with the racket.
Illegal serve
Umpire warns first, then awards points to the receiver on subsequent violations.

Scoring

First to 11 points per game (2-point margin), best of 5 or 7 games.

Action	Points
Point	1
Game	First to 11 (with 2-point margin).
Match	Best of 5 (women, doubles, team) or best of 7 (men's Olympics, world singles).

Win condition · Win required number of games — 3 in best-of-5, 4 in best-of-7.

Playing area

Called

table

Dimensions

2.74 m × 1.525 m × 76 cm high. Net 15.25 cm high. Rubber and blade racket ~15 cm × 25 cm.

Solid rectangular table (usually blue or green) with a white line down the centre (for doubles play) and a white line around the edges. Net divides the table lengthwise.

Equipment

Table tennis racket (paddle/bat)
Wooden blade (5-7 plies) with rubber sheets glued on both sides — one red, one black. Different rubbers for spin, speed or defensive control.
Ball
40+ mm diameter, 2.7 g. Made of poly-plastic since 2014 (celluloid before). White or orange.
Table
2.74 m × 1.525 m × 76 cm high, dark blue or green matte finish for visibility.
Net and posts
15.25 cm high nylon net extending 15.25 cm past each side.
Court barriers
Portable barriers around the play area for tournaments.

Officiating

Two umpires (main + assistant) sit at either end of the net line. Main umpire calls the score and calls faults; assistant confirms edge balls and calls faults from their side.

Umpire
Assistant umpire
Match referee (tournaments)

Strategies

Third-ball attack
Serve short, force a weak return, then attack aggressively — the modern pro basic.
Loop-drive dominance
Heavy topspin looping shots from the backhand and forehand — the dominant style since 2000.
Defensive chopping
Retrieve from far behind the table with heavy backspin chops — a rare but powerful specialist style (Chen Weixing, Joo Se-hyuk).
Serve variation
Mix short, long, side-spin, no-spin serves to keep opponent guessing about the return.
Placement over power
Wide angles and body-jamming serves are often more effective than raw speed.

Terminology

Loop: Aggressive topspin shot with a lifting motion — the modern power shot.
Chop: Heavy backspin defensive shot from behind the table.
Push: Short controlled backspin return — usually near the table.
Smash: Flat, hard shot with minimal spin — the finishing shot.
Flick: Aggressive short return over the table, usually against a short serve.
Third ball: The server's third shot — the setup ball for the point.
Setup / opening: The shot that opens the point for a winner.
Pips: The bumps on rubber sheets — smooth-inverted for spin, short-pips for control, long-pips for chopping.
Blade / rubber: The wooden paddle body / the rubber sheets glued to each side.
Spin: Topspin, backspin, sidespin — critical to modern play.
No-spin / dead ball: A ball with essentially no spin — deceptive because it behaves like heavy topspin/backspin.
Let: Serve grazes the net and lands legally — replay.

Major competitions

Summer Olympic Games
quadrennial · worldwide · since 1988
World Table Tennis Championships
biennial · worldwide · since 1926
ITTF World Cup
annual · worldwide · since 1980
WTT (World Table Tennis) Series
annual · worldwide · since 2021
New commercial tour format.
China Super League
annual · China
Highest-level pro league.

Where it is played

Governing bodies

International Table Tennis FederationITTF
Founded 1926 · Lausanne, Switzerland
Official site ↗
USA Table TennisUSATT
Founded 1933 · Colorado Springs, USA
Chinese Table Tennis AssociationCTTA
Founded 1955 · Beijing, China

Famous names & records

Famous athletes

Ma Long (CHN, current era GOAT)
Deng Yaping (CHN, women's legend)
Wang Hao (CHN)
Zhang Jike (CHN)
Waldner Jan-Ove (SWE, only Grand Slam outside China)
Ding Ning (CHN)
Timo Boll (GER)
Fan Zhendong (CHN)
Sun Yingsha (CHN)

Records

Most Olympic table tennis gold medals
Ma Long (CHN) — 5 (2012, 2016, 2020, 2020, 2024) (2024)
Most World Championship singles titles
Zhuang Zedong (CHN, 1961-65) — 3 consecutive (1965)
Chinese Olympic domination
China — 32/37 gold medals since 1988 (2024)

Learn this sport

beginner

1
Racket grip
Shakehand (Western) or penhold (Asian). Try both; most beginners start with shakehand.
2
Basic forehand and backhand drives
Contact the ball at the peak of the bounce; drive through with forearm rotation.
3
Basic serve
Learn topspin, backspin, and side-spin serves; toss the ball at least 16 cm from open palm.
4
Ready stance and small footwork
Balanced stance, small step recovery — footwork is the foundation of table tennis skill.

intermediate

1
Topspin loop technique
Low-to-high swing, brush contact for maximum spin; forehand loop is the modern signature.
2
Spin recognition
Read the opponent's racket angle and contact point to identify spin type — critical for returns.
3
Third-ball tactics
Serve short + attack the return; learn a repertoire of 3-4 serve types with clear follow-ups.
4
Multi-ball training
Coach or partner fires balls in patterns; hundreds of repetitions per practice session.

advanced

1
Advanced spin variations
Sidespin loops, no-spin surprises, opening chops — the 4-5 dimensions of modern spin.
2
Rubber selection
Match your rubbers to your style — different sponge hardnesses, pips-in/pips-out combinations.
3
Match preparation
Study opponent's serves and returns; scout their weaknesses (backhand, deep balls, no-spin serves).
4
Physical training
Explosive footwork, core stability, forearm/wrist strength — elite players train like sprinters.

Frequently asked

Table tennis or ping pong — is there a difference?+

'Ping Pong' was originally a Parker Brothers trademark from 1901. Today it's a colloquial name; competitive/tournament play is called 'Table Tennis'. Some tours (World Championship of Ping Pong) even use sandpaper paddles as a nostalgic variant.

Why do rackets have one red and one black side?+

So the opponent can distinguish which rubber (usually different spin behaviour) is being used. Made mandatory by ITTF in 1984 to eliminate ambiguity created by 'combi' bats.

Why did the game switch from 21-point to 11-point games?+

To make matches faster and TV-friendly. Changed in 2001. Also shortened serves from 5 to 2 per player, added more urgency to individual points.

Why does China dominate table tennis?+

Deliberate national development since the 1950s (Mao's era treated it as a symbol of national pride). Massive youth training pipeline, thousands of professional coaches, elite academies from age 5-6, and the highest domestic league (China Super League) draws top talent from around the world.

How fast does the ball travel?+

Top male pros hit forehand smashes at 105-115 km/h (65-72 mph). Elite loops travel at 90 km/h with 100+ revolutions per second of spin.

Sources & provenance

Wikipedia — Table tennis— Wikipedia
ITTF — Laws of Table Tennis— International Table Tennis Federation
USA Table Tennis — Basics— USATT

Last verified 2026-08-24.community