Table Tennis Tournaments

The profile of competitive Table tennis has been growing rapidly in recent years

How Table tennis has grown into an Olympic Sport

Competitive table tennis is very well organised and is particularly popular in Europe, Asia and increasingly in the U.S.A. Britain hosts a series of leagues, regional and national competitions each year which include:

English/Scottish/Welsh championships
County Championships
Senior British League
Women’s British League
Junior British League
Veterans British League

Overseas competitions include:

European Championships
European Champions League
Euro Top 12
Asian Championships
Asian Games


There are also several large international competitions including:
World Championships
World Cup
Olympics
International Table Tennis Federation Pro Tour

Most competitive events are played with a standard Table Tennis racket and a 40mm ball.
In recent years ‘Hard Bat’ competitions have emerged in which players must use rackets that do not have a layer of sponge underneath the rubber and ‘Large Ball’ events where a 44 mm ball is used. These events seek to slow the speed of the ball down, reminiscent of the early stages of table tennis competitions. In standard competitive events, preliminary matches are played to the best of five games unlike championship matches in which opponents play to the best of seven games.

Tournament History
Competitive Ping-Pong tournaments have been growing rapidly in recent years becoming an Olympic sport in 1988 and being included for the first time in the 2002 Commonwealth Games in Manchester, England. In 2005, the ITTF has announced that doubles Ping-Pong will only be featured as a part of team events in the 2008 Olympics.

Competitive Ping-Pong is hugely popular in Asia (where it is the national sport of China) and Europe and is growing in popularity throughout the rest of the world.

China continue to dominate most world titles but France, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, Singapore, Sweden, and Taiwan also have many world-class players.