Table tennis, also known as ping pong, is a sport in which two or four players hit a lightweight, hollow ball back and forth with rackets (also known as
Points are scored when a player fails to return the ball within the rules. Play is fast and demands quick reactions. A skilled player can impart several varieties of spin to the ball, altering its trajectory and limiting an opponent's options to great advantage.
The game is controlled by the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF), founded in 1926. Since 1988, table tennis has been an Olympic sport which includes four events. From 1988 until 2004, the events were men's singles, women's singles, men's doubles and women's doubles. Since 2008 the doubles have been replaced by the team events (Beijing was the first time where table tennis had an Olympic team event).
Competitive table tennis is popular in Asia and Europe and has been gaining attention in the United States. The most important international competitions are World Cup, World Championship, the Olympics and the ITTF Pro Tour, as well as continental competitions like European Championship, Euro Top-12, Asian Championship and Asian Games. China continues to dominate most world titles, while other strong teams come from East Asia and Europe including France, Germany, former Yugoslavia, Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea, Singapore, Sweden, and Taiwan.
There are also professional competitions at the clubs level. The national league of countries like China (the China Table Tennis Super League), Germany, France, Belgium and Austria are some of the examples being at the highest level. There are also some important international club teams competitions such as the European Champions League and its former competition, the European Club Cup, which the top club teams from different European countries compete.
