Origin

Table tennis developed in the late 19th century, although its origins are not well documented. It is usually considered to be of English origin, and is described as a "miniature" tennis that was played indoors in the 1880s and 1890s. The rules of the game were codified in 1922 by a Cambridge University student, Ivor Montagu (1904-1984).

In January 1926, five nations - Austria, England, Germany, Hungary, and Sweden - met to form the International Table Tennis Federation. The World Championships began in the same year.

The sport is widely practised throughout the world. Table tennis made its Olympic debut as a full medal sport during the Olympic Games in Seoul. It was never contested at the Olympics as a demonstration sport. Since the late 1950s, the Chinese have been by far the dominant country in table tennis.

There are four table tennis events on the Olympics programme: singles and doubles for men and women. The mixed doubles event is not held at the Olympics, but it has been an event at the World Championships since 1926.

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Preview for Team China

The table-tennis athlete list for the Beijing Olympic Games is quite a meaningful list for everyone of the Chinese table-tennis athletes.

Defending men's singles and mixed doubles champion Wang Liqin, gold medallist of three World Table Tennis Championships, has been ranked World No.1 for many years. The Games in Beijing may mean the last chance for the 30-year-old champion from Shanghai.

Ma Lin, gold medallist of the quartet of World Cup, was beaten twice by Wang at the World Championships. Pocketing a gold medal in the Beijing Olympics is Ma's desire -- as strong as Wang's.

Wang Hao is ranked world No. 1 in the latest world listings, but missed gold in the Athens Olympic and will look to amend his 2004 performance with gold this summer.

With regard to women, the world No. 1 Zhang Yining, the Athens Olympics gold medallist in both singles and doubles, needs to establish her name again after she lost in the finals of the 2006 Women's World Cup to Guo Yue, world No. 5 player. She will be trying to prove to the world that the era of Zhang Yining hasn't gone, and that she is able to dominate table-tennis still.

Wang Nan, the world No. 1 from 1999 to 2001, experienced ups and downs in various competitions including the Olympics, world table-tennis cups and world table-tennis champions. She beat Zhang Yining in last year's Women's World Table-Tennis Cup, making her total number of world champions outstrip that of Deng Yaping, a Chinese table-tennis player, who won six world championships and four Olympic championships between 1989-1997. At her age of 30, she expects to win championships in Beijing Olympics, to have a perfect end to her professional life.

Guo Yue, the women's world champion, will follow her winning the women's singles of the World Table-Tennis Championships last year with an appearance at the Games. She is expected to open a new era of her own.

The Beijing Olympic Games will, for the first time, cancel doubles events, and introduce team events, instead. The new regulations demand that all three players of the squad have the chance to play a single game. That means the Chinese regiment, with its outstanding singles and doubles players, will have more advantages.

(Source: Xinhua)