Table Tennis Blog

 

The latest standings for the men have just been released. It has 6 Chinese men in the top 10.

The world number 1 is Wang Hao. He is 24 and has won silver in the last 2 Olympic games. In the Athens 2004 Olympics he was beaten by South Korean, Ryu Seung Min. In the 2008 Olympic final, he was beaten by fellow Chinese player, Ma Lin. The Bronze was won by Wang Liqin, completing a clean sweep of the medals for China.

 

 

 

	Rank			Name	Assoc.
	1	(<<)	12951.00	WANG Hao	CHN
	2	(<<)	12913.25	MA Lin	CHN
	3	(<<)	12751.75	MA Long	CHN
	4	(<<)	12589.25	WANG Liqin	CHN
	5	(<<)	12526.50	SAMSONOV Vladimir	BLR
	6	(7)	12483.00	BOLL Timo	GER
	7	(6)	12462.00	CHEN Qi	CHN
	8	(<<)	12255.50	RYU Seung Min	KOR
	9	(<<)	12223.50	JOO Se Hyuk	KOR
	10	(20)	12210.00	HAO Shuai	CHN

The ball is made from a plastic called Celluloid. It is easily shaped and moulded, and it was used, early on, as a replacement for ivory.  It is also used to make guitar picks.

Table Tennis is governed by the ITTF, International Table Tennis Federation. It has many regulations on table tennis balls and has approved only 64 ball type for this year. Each will be stamped with the ITTF logo and will be 40mm in size. It will also have a star rating on the ball, 3 stars indicate the highest rating. Prior to the 2000 Olympics, a ball of 38mm was the standard. This was then changed, to be the 40mm ball, as it was thought to slow the flight of the ball slightly, allowing spectators to be able to follow the game. The flight is slower as the ball spins less.

To be approved the ball goes through vigorous tests. One of which is to drop the ball from 30mm on to a metal plate. The ball must then bounce up by a minimum of 230mm.

There are now many different coloured ball on the market. It is up to the players to decide which they find easier to see, when playing. Other than white, you are able to purchase blue, green, brown, orange, yellow and pink coloured balls.

The usual ball to be used is a white one. This is because white is best against a blue or green background. If you have a grey table you may prefer to use an orange ball.