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            Table Tennis

            Riocentro - Pavilion 3
            Part of the Olympic Games since Seoul 1988, table tennis is the most popular racket sport in the world. Devilish spin and incredible reflexes make it a spellbinding spectacle. Men and women compete individually and in teams.
            • Table Tennis

            Table Tennis

            About

            About

            Aim of the game

            Popularly known as ‘ping-pong’, the sport consists of two players either side of a waist-high table using small bats to hit a light, plastic ball over the net and onto the other side, winning a point if the opponent fails to return it

            Why should you watch this?

            The ninja-like reflexes of the players cannot fail but amaze those watching – just imagine trying to return a smash travelling at full pace towards you from the bat of an Olympic champion

            Venues

            Riocentro - Pavilion 3

            International Federation

            ITTF

            Olympic debut

            Seul 1988

            Rules
            • Topspin

              Topspin

              Attacking stroke that generates speed and spin on the ball

            • Block

              Block

              Shot used to counter a topspin stroke, turning the speed of the attacking shot back on the opponent

            • Chop

              Chop

              Striking sharply under the ball to slow it down and make it bounce low off the playing surface

            Impress your friends

            • Table tennis was invented in England around 1880, as an improvised after-dinner game using a champagne-cork ball, cigar-box lids as bats and piles of books as a net

              Table tennis was invented in England around 1880, as an improvised after-dinner game using a champagne-cork ball, cigar-box lids as bats and piles of books as a net

            • Table tennis first appeared at the Rome 1960 Paralympic Games and took almost 30 years to finally become an Olympic sport, in Seoul 1988

              Table tennis first appeared at the Rome 1960 Paralympic Games and took almost 30 years to finally become an Olympic sport, in Seoul 1988

            • Sweden’s Jan-Ove Waldner won the men’s singles title at the Barcelona 1992 Games and remains the only non-Asian player to have won an Olympic gold medal in table tennis

              Sweden’s Jan-Ove Waldner won the men’s singles title at the Barcelona 1992 Games and remains the only non-Asian player to have won an Olympic gold medal in table tennis

            • Chinese athletes have dominated Olympic table tennis since day one, winning 24 of the 28 golds ever awarded, including a clean sweep at London 2012

              Chinese athletes have dominated Olympic table tennis since day one, winning 24 of the 28 golds ever awarded, including a clean sweep at London 2012

            • Table tennis is considered the most popular racquet sport in the world, with over 300 million players in five continents

              Table tennis is considered the most popular racquet sport in the world, with over 300 million players in five continents

            • The top players can spin the ball at up to 9,000 revolutions per minute

              The top players can spin the ball at up to 9,000 revolutions per minute

            • The name ping-pong was registered by a North American company who entered into a long-running battle with the table tennis association for control of the sport, hence the ongoing use of both names

              The name ping-pong was registered by a North American company who entered into a long-running battle with the table tennis association for control of the sport, hence the ongoing use of both names

            Scoring

            Matches are split up into games in which the first player(s) to score 11 points wins. If players or teams tie at 10-10, a two-point margin is needed to win. A singles match is the best of seven games and the team competition consists of four singles matches and one doubles, each one the best of five games.

            A player wins a point when the opponent:

            - misses the table with the ball as he attempts to return it

            - plays the ball into the net

            - misses the ball altogether after it has hit their side of the table

            - touches the playing surface with their free hand

            Service

            A serve must bounce once on both sides of the table to be valid (in doubles games, players on the same side take turns returning the ball) and the server alternates every two points or after every point if the score reaches 10-10.

            The ball is playable whenever it has touched the playing surface on the opponent’s side of the net, even if it hits the line or edge, or goes ‘around’ the side of the net.

            Equipment

            Ball: with 40mm in diameter and weighing 2.7g, the ball is made of plastic and can be white or orange.

            Bat: is made of wood and covered with rubber (red on one side, black on the other) to help induce spin, with a total maximum thickness of 4mm.

            Stats

            Top Medalists

            Men
            chn
            Hao Wang             		2 3 0 5
            chn
            Guoliang Liu             		2 1 1 4
            chn
            Liqin Wang             		2 0 2 4
            Women
            chn
            Nan Wang             		4 1 0 5
            chn
            Yaping Deng             		4 0 0 4
            chn
            Yining Zhang             		4 0 0 4

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