- ‘Ping Pong’ (also known as Flim-Flam’, ‘Gossima’, and ‘Whiff Whaff’!) began as an English parlour game in the 1890’s and was played on a dining room table with books for bats
- Table tennis was admitted as a full medal sport at the Seoul Olympics in 1988
- Current world powers in table tennis are China, Korea, Japan and Germany
- There are currently more than 300 million players world wide, making it the second most popular sport after football
- Table tennis is one of the fastest growing sports in England. 134,900 people now play table tennis weekly, which means nearly 50,000 more people are playing since last year.
Sport England today launched Ping! the Public – a new initiative to boost recreational table tennis. £250,000 of National Lottery funding has been set aside to pay for public ping pong tables. From village halls to city councils and the Woman’s Institute to after-school clubs, non-profit organisations can apply for their own table. The only stipulation is that it is free for people to use and enjoy.
ping-pong (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Pimlico has one table at
Pimlico Estate, Westminster, London, SW1V 4NP
In addition to free play, the English Table Tennis Association will host a series of masterclasses, tournaments and coaching sessions. Also on offer are Random Acts of Ping Pong, an unusual programme of art and social ping pong, from artist designed tables to Singles for Singles (an event to help you find your perfect match) and Midnight Ping! with glow in the dark balls. The tables are up from June 29th for four to six weeks.
