The Table Tennis Ball Up Close

Table tennis is one of the world’s most popular of indoor games. Owing its roots to that of tennis, table tennis represents the scaled down version of tennis games, which features the same basic principle which has made tennis a superstar when talking about sports.

The Victorians of 1880 England are known to have inspired the inception of table tennis as a sport when they regularly played table tennis as an after dinner form of entertainment, with the predefined desire to play tennis in an indoor, scaled down environment. The popularity of their breed of table tennis eventually paved the way for the release of table tennis equipment, which eventually led to the birth of table tennis as a sport, loved and enjoyed by cultures all over the world.

Before the use of specific table tennis equipment, table tennis games were played using mostly common household items, like books, which served as nets, the corks of Champagne bottles and/of knotted strings, which served as table tennis balls, and the lids or covers of cigar boxes, which served as table tennis rackets or paddles. The increasing popularity of the game then coerced manufacturers in developing table tennis geared equipment.

On Table Tennis Balls

Today, celluloid, gas-filled balls are being utilized as table tennis balls. Discovered by table tennis enthusiast James Gibb in 1901, celluloid balls have now become a standard when talking about table tennis balls. By 1903, contrary to the parchment stretched over a frame class of table tennis rackets, the more solid table tennis paddle, padded with a rubber strip was introduced, highly complementing the defined standard of table tennis balls being used in table tennis games.

As table tennis was then getting more and more popular, table tennis competitions were being held on a regular basis, and in 1988 Table Tennis was introduced into the Olympic Games. Today, international table tennis competitions take place on a regular basis, with a defined set of equipment specifications, including table tennis balls and table tennis tables.

International regulations define that the 40 millimeter in diameter balls, weighing 2.7 ounces, being the standard of table tennis balls to be used in international competitions. The 40 mm class of table tennis balls took the place of the 38 mm class of table tennis balls. The colors, which run complementary to the color of a table tennis table is defined as either white or orange. The three available diameter table tennis balls ranges from the 40 mm of table tennis balls, the 44 mm of table tennis balls, and the 54 mm of table tennis balls.

These table tennis balls, the larger variety, are often used as practice balls, with the 40 mm class of table tennis balls being geared for more professional of table tennis games.