A Table Tennis Timeline

1880s Game originated in England as an after-dinner parlour game played by the upper-class. The sound generated in play gave the game its first name of ‘wiff-waff’.

1901 Hamley’s of Regent Street, then a sports manufacturer, was the first to manufacture a racket for wiff waff. The sound created by these hard bats gave the game its next name ‘ping-pong’.

1902 Englishman James Gibb, brings celluloid balls to the table.

1903 E.C Goode puts reinforced rubber on bat handles.

1920 ‘Table Tennis’ officially used as the alternative to ping pong.

1921 Table Tennis Association established.

1926 International Table Tennis Associations established around the world.

1927 London holds world’s first international table tennis competition.

1930 Table tennis banned in the Soviet Union for 30 years as it was believed to be bad for your eyes.

1946 ITTF (International Table Tennis Federation) established.

1950s S.W Hancock Ltd. introduces rubber and sponge to bats.

1968 The English Schools’ Table Tennis Association (ETTA) was formed in 1968 to give structure to competitive school table tennis which was on the increase throughout the country.

1971 US team allowed to enter China, the first official Americans since the communist takeover in 1949.

1979 Triples Table Tennis invented by Professor Günter Arndt.

1980 ITTF Men’s World Cup first held.

1988 Table tennis makes Olympic Games, (Seoul, Korea).

1990 ITTF Para Table Tennis World Championships first held.

1996 ITTF Women’s World Cup first held.

2000 Ball size increased from 38mm to 40mm to slow down the game.

2009 First Triples tournament held in Wollongong, Australia.

2013 First 3-a-side table designed, manufactured and launched in London by T3 Ping Pong Ltd.

2014 T3 SuperMini bats and tables, both specially designed for 3-6 year olds, go into UK schools.

–  ITTF confirms all their sanctioned and World Title events will now be played using plastic composite balls not traditional celluloid balls.

– T3 All weather table unveiled by City of London on Hampstead Heath.

– T3 played in Switzerland for the first time.

2015 T3 played for the first time in Sweden and the USA.