6th April World Table Tennis Day

Table tennis is not only a matter of competition; it is also a vehicle for positive social change, a healthy worthwhile use of leisure time and an opportunity to bring people together, an excellent tool for social inclusion. This sport has a unique value where people from different ages, gender, skills or physical condition can play together. Hence, there’s a day for people who love table tennis to spread their love for the sport and get people interested in it. It’s called World Table Tennis Day! Read more below to find out more about its history and how you can take part in the celebration.

*History of World Table Tennis Day*

Table tennis, also called ping pong, originated during Victorian England where it was originally played as a parlour game. The term “ping-pong” was used as a catchy phrase by the company J. Jaques & Son Ltd and hence was trademarked by them in 1901. Table tennis didn’t become a competitive sport until 1988 when the summer Olympics started. Table Tennis has since honed in its rules when the 2000 Olympics in Sydney when they implemented rules for players to join for competition, and now organizations like the International Table Tennis Federation formed and took table tennis to a whole new level.

One of the fundamental mission of The International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) is to promote table tennis globally to be played in each corner of the world. To accomplish this mission, ITTF created ITTF Development to make the sport accessible to everyone. In 2015, ITTF created World Table Tennis Day to get people interested in this competitive sport and has since been celebrating the holiday so that way more people can learn about the sport.
Since then, ITTF developed a Table tennis for ALL program with the aim to make the sport Popular, Universal and Inclusive. The term “ALL” means more people, but not only that, also different kinds of people in terms of age, gender, social status, culture and physical ability.

*How to Celebrate World Table Tennis Day*

The World Table Tennis Day is celebrated by organizing activities, such as tournaments and exhibitions on the streets, clubs, bars, schools, workplaces, shopping centres, etc. All these events can be registered on the official website of the day, tt4all.com, to join the world wide celebration. If you’re looking for other ways to celebrate World Table Tennis Day, watch competitive world tennis on TV and hashtag #worldtabletennisday on social media so your friends can know what day it is!