Table tennis is a racket sport derived from tennis but distinguished by its playing surface being atop a stationary table, rather than the court on which players stand. Either individually or in teams of two, players take alternating turns returning a light, hollow ball over the table's net onto the opposing half of the court using small rackets until they fail to do so, which results in a point for the opponent. Play is fast, requiring quick reaction and constant attention, and is characterized by an emphasis on spin relative to other ball sports, which can heavily affect the ball's trajectory.
Ping-pong diplomacy refers to the exchange of table tennis (ping-pong) players between the United States (US) and People's Republic of China (PRC) in the early 1970s, that began during the 1971 World Table Tennis Championships in Nagoya, Japan as a result of an encounter between players Glenn Cowan and Zhuang Zedong. The exchange and its promotion helped to humanize the people in each country after a period of isolation and distrust. It paved the way for President Richard Nixon's visit to Beijing in 1972, and is considered a turning point in relations between the United States and the People's Republic of China.
Karl Peter Karlsson is a table tennis player. He was 1991 World Champion in men's doubles, and 2000 European Champion in men's singles he is married to Åsa Karlsson.
Guo Yue is a Chinese table tennis player and the 2007 women's world champion.
Achanta Sharath Kamal, known as Sharath Kamal, is an Indian professional table tennis player. He is the first Indian table tennis player ever to become ten times Senior National Champion hence breaking the record of eight-time National Champion Kamlesh Mehta. In 2019 he was awarded the Padma Shri, India's fourth highest civilian award and in 2022, he was awarded the Khel Ratna Award, India's highest sporting honour.
Hardbat table tennis is the classical table tennis playing style that existed prior to the advent of sponge rubber in the 1950s. The main difference between hardbat and modern table tennis lies in the racket used, which greatly affects the dynamics and strategy of the game. Hardbat rackets use short outward "pips" with no sponge, resulting in decreased speeds and reduced spin compared to rackets using sponge rubber. This results in slower shots, and a more strategic game rather than the fast-paced, heavy topspin attacking style that dominates regular table tennis. Although the older term 'ping-pong' is often used as a synonym for table tennis generally, hardbat is sometimes referred to specifically as 'ping-pong' in contradistinction to modern 'soft-bat' table tennis.
Chuang Chih-yuan is a Taiwanese table tennis player. He won the ITTF Pro Tour Grand Finals in 2002 and doubles title at the 2013 World Table Tennis Championships. He participated in the Summer Olympics five times, making the most appearances at Olympic Games among Taiwanese athletes.
Dimitrij Ovtcharov or Dmytro Ovtcharov is a Ukrainian-born German table tennis player. His father Mikhail, a Soviet table tennis champion in 1982, moved his family to Germany shortly after Dimitrij was born.
There are sporting events held in United Arab Emirates.
Ma Long is a Chinese professional table tennis player who is currently ranked number 3 in Men’s Singles by the ITTF and the reigning Olympic singles champion. Widely regarded as the greatest table tennis player of all time, he is the first and only male player to complete a career Double Grand Slam as the Olympic gold medalist in men's singles in 2016 and 2020. He held the ranking of number 1 for a total of 64 months, the most by any male in the history of table tennis. He is also champion in World Championships in men's singles in 2015, 2017 and 2019. His records led the International Table Tennis Federation to nickname him as "The Dictator" and "The Dragon". Since 2014, he has been the captain of the Chinese national table tennis men's team.
Louis Pagliaro was an American table tennis player who won the United States national championship on four occasions, include three consecutive years in the 1940s. His small stature — he was just over five-feet tall and weighed under 120 pounds in his prime — and exciting style of play led to such nicknames as "Bullet Lou", "Dynamite Louie" and "Giant Killer", he was said to have "the hardest forehand in table tennis".
Andrew Baggaley is a professional table tennis player from Milton Keynes. He is England's leading table tennis medal winner of all time in the Commonwealth Games, winning two gold medals in Manchester, England (2002), 1 silver medal in Melbourne, Australia (2006), 1 silver and 1 bronze medal in Delhi, India (2010) and 1 silver in Glasgow, Great Britain.
John Alfred Leach MBE was a British table tennis player, coach, and author. He began competing at a relatively old age, 17, before serving in World War II. During the war, he greatly elevated his game and, in 1946, achieved a world ranking. In 1949, Leach became Great Britain's second World Champion singles player. After winning the title, he achieved widespread fame within the United Kingdom, appearing on television and writing for News of the World. Two years later, Leach added a second singles title. In 1953, he was part of the team that won Great Britain's first, and as of 2014 only, team World Championship. He also won 13 bronze and silver World championship medals between 1947 and 1955. As of 2014, Leach is just one of 11 players from any country to win two singles championships.
The World Championship of Ping Pong, also known as WCPP, is an annual ping pong tournament that has been held since 2011. The current champion is Andrew Baggaley, who beat Alexander Flemming in the 2020 final to beat Maxim Shmyrev's record of winning three championships, and become the record-breaking four-time champion.
The 1967 World Table Tennis Championships were held at the Johanneshovs Isstadion in Stockholm from April 11 to April 21, 1967.
Ariel Yenhua Hsing is an American table tennis player who competed in the 2012 Summer Olympics.
Xu Xin is a Chinese professional table tennis player who is currently ranked world No. 103 as of May 2023 for men's singles by the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF). He first reached his career-high singles ranking of world No. 1 in January 2013.
Richard Pugoy Gonzales is a Filipino table tennis player and the No. 1 ranked player in the Philippines as of January 2014.
Derek Tawiah Abrefa is a Ghanaian born table tennis player. He started playing table tennis when he was in Presbyterian Senior High School, Osu as a student and junior national champion. Derek being a junior ping pong player represented Ghana at the Africa Junior Championship in Alexandria, Egypt and the All African Games in Algiers, Algeria in 2007.
The 1967 World Table Tennis Championships – Swaythling Cup was the 29th edition of the men's team championship.
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