Who Are The Worlds Leading Table Tennis Players?
| 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 highest ranked British player is Englishman Paul Drinkhall. The 18 year old is currently ranked 160th. He is the current European youth junior champion.
The latest standings have also been released for the women. Again the Chinese dominate holding the first 5 slots in the top 10.
The Chinese women dominated the medals at the Olympics winning all 3 medals in the Singles. Gold went to Zhang Yining, Silver to veteran Wang Nan and Bronze was won by Guo Yue.
Zhang has held the world number 1 position, almost entirely since January 2003. Only in January of this year did she slip to number 2 but, regained the top slot the following month.
| Rank | Name | Assoc. | |||
| 1 | (<<) | 12894.50 | ZHANG Yining | CHN | |
| 2 | (3) | 12866.75 | LI Xiaoxia | CHN | |
| 3 | (2) | 12806.75 | GUO Yue | CHN | |
| 4 | (<<) | 12666.25 | WANG Nan | CHN | |
| 5 | (<<) | 12661.25 | GUO Yan | CHN | |
| 6 | (<<) | 12486.75 | LI Jia Wei | SIN | |
| 7 | (9) | 12397.50 | FENG Tianwei | SIN | |
| 8 | (7) | 12381.25 | WANG Yue Gu | SIN | |
| 9 | (10) | 12347.75 | TIE Yana | HKG | |
| 10 | (8) | 12313.00 | JIANG Huajun | HKG |
The leading British player in women’s table tennis is Joanna Parker and she is ranked at 171 having climbed over 100 places this year alone.
Table tennis balls….How are they made and why are they white?
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.
The ball is filled with a gas
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.
Cornilleaus 3D Models
Fresh onto our website are some nice modern 3D models. Good old Cornilleau has sent us over a CD with 3d rotating models of everyone of there tables if you go onto www.tabletennistableshop.co.uk you should be able to see them.
3 of the Makes
There are currently 3 leading table tennis makes for professional and recreational use, they are in no particular order, Cornilleau, Kettler and Butterfly (Ransome Sporting Goods). Sadly these ranges do not have any rubbers or glues up for offer however they do have some top of the range tables and a few recreational use bats and balls.
Who’s the most attractive - I’m surprised at how odd that opener sounded
Personally my favorite Tables are the butterfly ultimate outdoor table tennis table mainly because of its unique look, it has an 18mm think top and has an ITTF anti flare top and heavy duty galvanized steel net and post set. My second favorite Table is the Cornilleau Proline 510 Outdoor Table Tennis Table because of its awesome looking curved stands and its metal grill like net, it has a Panel Laminated Resin 7mm and a steel net, it also features an Anti-glare treatment mat top. Unfortunately this table can set you back a bit but personally I think it is excellent value for money
The Ultimate Make
My personal ultimate make would have to be Cornilleau as they have more to offer and a vaster range of products, as well as interesting designs and they are on the ball
Balls Balls Balls
When it comes to selecting the perfect ball for table tennis there are 2 main brands which you should look at.
Butterfly
Cornilleau
From my experiance i have found that Butterfly branded balls are supperior, They crack less, and are more durable and have a perfect even surface.
Blades
Soon to hit TableTennisTableShop’s Market is a range of Blades, Glues, Balls, Bat Cases, Bags, Rubbers, Shoes and Socks these will be released soon and the shop will be going pro. We have been looking around at our competitors and now exactly what we need to keep up with the ever growing sport of Table Tennis.
If you have any suggestions on products or brands please leave a comment to this article and we will get back to you.
Table Tennis Facts
Table tennis became a medal Olympic sport in the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul.
Table tennis was banned in the Soviet Union from ca 1930 to 1950. The sport was believed to be harmful to the eyes.
Early table tennis paddles were normally made of cork, cardboard, or wood, and covered with cloth, leather or sandpaper.
Table tennis is the most popular racquet sport in the world and ranked second overall in terms of participation. Over 10 million players compete in sanctioned tournaments each year.
A modern table tennis match at the elite level lasts on the average about 30 minutes. Top players often smash the ball at speeds exceeding 100 miles per hour.
How many balls can two players hit back and forth in 60 seconds? The current record is 173 set by Jackie Bellinger and Lisa Lomas in 1993.
A modern table is 9 feet long, 5 feet wide, and 2.5 feet high. The net is 6 inches high.
China, Sweden and South Korea are currently the world powers in table tennis
Website Reviews
Table Tennis Tables - TableTennisTableShop is a very handy shopping website as not only does it just have the products it has a lot of information, I especially like the page making the right choice it helps you pick out the table you need. They also have a page on Table Tennis Tips which are very useful and they also have a lot of information on diets and players
Table Tennis Forum - One site I did find very useful was the mytabletennis.net forum website as people are very active on the website and are always willing to chat and give you tips. The people on the forum seem very up to date and seem to know what they are talking about however the downside is that I found the website to be very cluttered and hard to move around as there was a lot of flashing things going on.
Table Tennis News - The English Table Tennis Association website has a very useful news letter which they update daily and have interesting facts about table tennis
About.com Table Tennis Blog - Greg’s Table Tennis Blog was a very useful Table Tennis blog as it had a lot of interesting information on it and had some useful table tennis tips
PTTF
PTTF names team for CW Youth Games KARACHI, Sept 25: PTTF (The Pakistan Table Tennis Federation) on Thursday announced a new two-member team for the upcoming third Commonwealth Youth Games being held in Pune, India, from Oct 12-18. The team comprising Salman Ahmed Tahir Virk and Ayesha Khan was picked after trials held at the PSB Coaching Centre here under the supervision of two visiting North Korean coaches. The foreign experts were assisted by veteran international Arif Nakhuda and secretary Sindh Table Tennis Association, Saleem Ahmed. The ITTF course conductor Arif Khan will accompany the team as official. Both Salman and Ayesha who are currently undergoing training in the camp, have recently featured in the ITTF Indian Open world junior circuit at the same venue. Besides table tennis, Pakistan has decided to field sportspersons in four other disciplines — athletics, swimming, weightlifting and wrestling. Meanwhile, Pakistan’s 21-member squad including three women and five officials will fly to Mumbai from Karachi on Oct 9 by PK 274 on way to Pune. The size of the contingent would be athletics (two men, one official), swimming (two men, two women, and one official), table tennis (one man, one woman, and one official), weightlifting (four men and one official), and wrestling (four men and one official).