The Evolution of the Table Tennis bat

The Evolution of Table Tennis Bats

Around the year 1890 Strung rackets for a table version
of lawn tennis were first tried. Sheepskin battledores,
borrowed from the shuttlecock game, were used in the
Gossima game of 1891, and became very popular when
the celluloid ball was introduced to the game around
1900. The next type of bats were the wood bats, with
amazing veriety of surfaces, reflecting over 100 years of
racket technology. Some of the surfaces were plain
wood, grooved wood blades, leather, sandpaper, painted
blades, cork, aluminum, felt, early textured rubber ...
and some unusual shapes. Of special note are intri-
cately carved fretwork bats, as well as a diverse array
of bats with unusual features, including pyrographic
art, handles with intricate inlays, sterling silver,
tortoise shell, carved bone... and several examples of the
earliest thick foam rubber bats introduced in the 1950s.
In the evolution of bats the wood bats were used as a
medium for art. Of special importance is a magnificent
pair of early wood bats with original portraits in oils of
a man and woman Table Tennis player, both holding a
Table Tennis bat. Also very rare , a fantastic set of 4
painted bats with portraits of a 1903 Table Tennis team,
and an extensive group of pyrographic (woodburned)
art bats with a range of motifs. An original pen & ink
portrait of the famous Gibson Girl is another out-
standing bat. The first wood bats were plain wood bats
with no surface covering. Such wood bats were quite
popular during the early years; Hungarian stars O.
Jacobi used a plain wood bat with elongated handle to
win the 1st World Championships in 1926. Some
blades have grooved or textured patterns in the wood to
enhance spin. The wide variety of grip styles is esp-
ecially interesting. The collection includes some very
fine and elegant examples. The next bats were wood
bats with cork surfaces. Cork faced bats were intro-
duced as early as 1902, persevering into the 1950s as
they were ideally suited for the defensive specialist
with its spin absorbing qualities. Cork surfaces are also
found on one side of early combination bats. Grips
were sometimes covered with a veneer or inlay of cork
to absorb perpiration. Another type of bat was a wood
bat with sandpaper or emory coverings. The sandpaper
bat was very popular, with its abrasive surface offering
both defensive and offensive capabilities. However, the
ITTF banned the sandpaper bat in 1959 as part of the
Racket Standardization rules, because of their excessive
wear on the ball. The next wood bats were pebbled or
pipped rubber surfaces. Legend has it the pimpled
rubber bat began with a mat used of coins at the cash
register of an apothecary. The earliest commercial
models had short nubby or pyramid shaped pips. By
the 1920s the hard rubber bat was the preferred
weapon of most serious players, though bats with cork
and sandpaper surfaces were also used. Despite the
popularity of the sponge bats, hardbat devotees have
persevered, organizing hard bat events in Europe &
the USA. 3-ply bats are generally preferred by de-
fensive choppers, while 5-ply bats are favored by
attackers. Other bats have wood with leather surfaces
or combination bats with different surfaces on both
sides. Unusual varieties are also included, such as the
Spalding VILLA bats with honeycomb covering -
rubber was a scarce commodity during WW II.
The next wood bat coverings were the thick sponge
surfaces from the 1950s. Of the early experiments with
sponge surfaces, perhaps most notable was Waldemar
Fritsch of Austria, but it was not until the Japanese
Satoh won the 1952 World Chanpionships in Bombay
that the sponge became a major technical development
that would change the sport forever. The sponge bat
threw the ITTF into a crisis that lasted 7 years, until
a compromise was reached between the technologists
and the traditionalists. After the thick sponge bat was
introduced in the early 1950s (see previous), much
controversy occurred, some nations even banning the
sponge bat. But ITTF Founder President Ivor Montagu
staunchly defended such technology, and in 1959 the
ITTF formulated a set of racket standardization
requirements, banning the thick sponge but allowing
a sandwich bat with a layer of sponge and top layer
of rubber, pips in or pips out. Since that time tech-
nology has dominated the modern era, and thousands
of varieties of the sponge bat and specialized rubber
surfaces have been developed, with differences in speed,
spin and control. It is not possible to collect and show
all varities, so the presentation must be selective. In my
opinion all the sponge rubber bats with the varying
degree of spins has made Table Tennis a more difficult
sport than it was meant to be and I think that there
should be a standard bat with a certain degree of spin
factor and texture. I use a sponge rubber bat that I am
comfortable with, but when I play other players that
have greater spin I am at a loss because I don't know
how to counter the severe spins that these bats use.
I believe that the ITTF should again look at the bats
being used and try to find some standard bat that can
be used by all.

Table Tennis Safety for Beginners

Table Tennis Safety for Beginners

Always remember to do some stretching exercises
before beginning play. You should be warmed up
before the start of the match.


The most common injuries in table tennis are what
is called tennis elbow or an injury to elbow joint.
This comes from the constant force you put on
your elbow each time you swing at the ball. There
can be a lot of inflamation and you could use an
ice pack to reduce the swelling and numb the
pain. I've had it and to hurts really bad.


Another type of injury that occurs in table tennis
is a bad shoulder. In table tennis you'll see a
majority of the players hit with a looped forehand
or backhand. Most players have built up a strong
shoulder so the risk of injury is slight, but if you
are a beginner don't try to over due your shoulder
turn by watching the way skilled players can do it.


One type of injury that rarely occurs is if you are
playing with many ping pong balls and there are
some on the floor near you. It is easy to step on
a ball and not only crush the ball but slip on the
ball and fall.


Another thing to watch out for are players playing
beside or close to you. If your ball happens to
be hit near their table, do not try to retrieve the ball
until their point is over, when they can return your
ball.


Also, please try to control your temper and do not
throw your paddle. This can be very dangerous
and can endanger other spectators or players.


Above all if you have pain in any of your joints it
would be wise to see a chiropractor or your primary
physician. These injuries often occur but they can
be treated very well by your doctor.


In conclusion table tennis is considered by most
as an easy game without the chance of injury.
The broken bones, the injuried elbows and
sore shoulders prove that table tennis is not an
easy sport. It should be prepared for just like any
other sport and you should know the risks involved.

World Rankings

Men's Top 20 World Rankings

1 12830.25 MA Long (CHN)
2 12719.00 WANG Hao (CHN)
3 12668.75 MA Lin (CHN)
4 12639.25 BOLL Timo (GER)
5 12526.75 WANG Liqin (CHN)
6 12419.75 SAMSONOV Vladimir (BLR)
7 12326.75 HAO Shuai (CHN)
8 12273.50 MAZE Michael (DEN)
9 12264.25 CHEN Qi (CHN)
10 12233.00 MIZUTANI Jun (JPN)
11 12224.50 JOO Se Hyuk (KOR)
12 12213.25 ZHANG Jike (CHN)
13 12164.25 OVTCHAROV Dimitrij (GER)
14 12163.00 OH Sang Eun (KOR)
15 12106.00 XU Xin (CHN)
16 12100.00 SCHLAGER Werner (AUT)
17 12089.25 CHEUNG Yuk (HKG)
18 12049.75 KREANGA Kalinikos (GRE)
19 12008.50 RYU Seung Min (KOR)
20 12002.75 CHUANG Chih-Yuan (TPE


Women's Top 20 World Rankings



Rank Ranking
1 12725.50 LIU Shiwen (CHN)
2 12723.50 ZHANG Yining (CHN)
*3 12675.25 GUO Yue (CHN)
4 12532.25 GUO Yan (CHN)
5 12531.75 LI Xiaoxia (CHN)
6 12434.75 FENG Tianwei (SIN)
7 12433.75 DING Ning (CHN)
8 12400.50 WANG Nan (CHN)
** 9 12325.50 KIM Kyung Ah (KOR)
10 12316.50 FAN Ying (CHN)
11 12302.25 JIANG Huajun (HKG)
12 12275.50 PARK Mi Young (KOR)
13 12230.00 WANG Yue Gu (SIN)
14 12202.00 TIE Yana (HKG)
15 12180.50 WU Jiaduo (GER)
16 12155.25 CAO Zhen (CHN)
17 12144.75 DANG Ye Seo (KOR)
18 12132.25 LIU Jia (AUT)
19 12127.75 SUN Bei Bei (SIN)
20 12118.25 LI Jiao (NED)

Trying out different Table Tennis Clubs

Recently I got a e-mail from the director of the Phoenixville Table Tennis Club! They are located in the basement of the Faith Baptist Church, 1015 Livingston Rd. PhoenixVille. PA 10460. They meet Tuesday nights from 7 pm. to 10 pm. Your first night is free, after that it will be $2 per night to play. They also offer yearly and family memberships. They have 5 tables, balls, and some loner paddles. You have to follow the club rules which would be good to know before you start playing. Then you could start right away. As of January 2010 they have 51 players and average about 22 players per night.
The director may have seen this blog and he invited me to come and see the club. Unfortunately I have not been yet able the go to Pennsylvania. This may change soon because I am interested in going to different clubs and meeting different players. Being between beginner and intermediate player I am still a bit unsure of myself but I am willing to give it a try. I think it is a good idea for all players to try different places and players so they can play on any table and with anyone.

Table Tennis Videos and DVDs

I was looking up various Table Tennis sites and I found
that there are a lot of sites that have interesting movies for real cheap. At Amazon.com there are a few strange
movies. I believe they are comical and they cost about
3 dollars. They also have some serious ones that cost
about 20 dollars. One is Killerspin success in Table
Tennis DVD. Amazon also has other DVDs and interactive game programs that are pretty cheap.
I also found a site called Total Table Tennis where
they have some really great DVD's. There are teaching
DVD's for beginners, intermediates, and advanced. There are also some great DVD's about professional
strokes up close and how they attack and defend in the
game. There are also really good DVD's about the
greatest in action. Even some of you who are advanced
will be amazed at the athleticism of these players.
Another site I found was Sport Videos that give DVDs
and VHS Videos. The Table Tennis Videos are really at a
low cost and worth it if you still have VCR player. If you
are looking for Olympic Table Tennis memorablilia the site you might like is Discount Pin Store. They have decorative pins on the Olympics, World Series, etc.
I have been looking to get the Videos from the 2008 Beijing Olympics. I can't seem to find it on the internet.
I will try to find out where this video can be bought.

An Interesting Site - The ITTF Museum

I was recently browsing the ITTF site and I saw a link to the Table Tennis Museum. This is a very interesting site where you can find things such as a view of the Photo Gallery of all World Champions, enter a Photo Gallery of all ITTF Hall of Fame members, find all Olympic medal winners on one page, read the latest Museum Newsletter, read a history of Table Tennis, take a tour of the Museum site, and even play a simulated game of ping pong. There is also much, much more. If you have an interest of the history of table tennis and its folk lore I recommend visiting this link on the ITTF site.

ITTF Top 20 World Rankings December 2009

ITTF World ranking - Men top 20


1 (<<) 12812.50 WANG Hao CHN
2 (<<) 12807.25 MA Long CHN
3 (<<) 12707.25 MA Lin CHN
4 (<<) 12604.25 BOLL Timo GER
5 (<<) 12590.75 WANG Liqin CHN
6 (<<) 12448.75 SAMSONOV Vladimir BLR
7 (<<) 12325.25 HAO Shuai CHN
8 (9) 12287.50 CHEN Qi CHN
9 (8) 12267.75 MAZE Michael DEN
10 (<<) 12239.75 JOO Se Hyuk KOR
11 (16) 12198.25 ZHANG Jike CHN
12 (11) 12181.25 MIZUTANI Jun JPN
13 (12) 12164.50 OH Sang Eun KOR
14 (13) 12131.50 OVTCHAROV Dimitrij GER
15 (<<) 12105.50 CHEUNG Yuk HKG
16 (14) 12101.50 SCHLAGER Werner AUT
17 (<<) 12073.75 KREANGA Kalinikos GRE
18 (24) 12056.00 XU Xin CHN
19 (18) 12054.25 CHUANG Chih-Yuan TPE
20 (19) 12028.50 RYU Seung Min KOR



ITTF World ranking - Women top 20


1 (<<) 12771.50 ZHANG Yining CHN
2 (<<) 12753.25 GUO Yue CHN
3 (<<) 12684.00 LIU Shiwen CHN
4 (<<) 12587.75 LI Xiaoxia CHN
5 (6) 12506.75 GUO Yan CHN
6 (5) 12469.25 FENG Tianwei SIN
7 (9) 12434.75 DING Ning CHN **
8 (7) 12404.50 WANG Nan CHN
9 (8) 12344.50 KIM Kyung Ah KOR
10 (19) 12316.50 FAN Ying CHN
11 (10) 12295.75 JIANG Huajun HKG
12 (<<) 12275.50 PARK Mi Young KOR
13 (11) 12255.00 WANG Yue Gu SIN
14 (15) 12199.50 TIE Yana HKG *
15 (14) 12164.25 LI Jia Wei SIN
16 (13) 12156.25 LIU Jia AUT
17 (22) 12153.25 SUN Bei Bei SIN
18 (17) 12149.25 CAO Zhen CHN
19 (20) 12144.75 DANG Ye Seo KOR
20 (18) 12136.75 WU Jiaduo GER