Here's a fact. I'm not the I-can't-live-my-life-without-basketball type of guy as opposed to everyone else in the Philippines. I'm not athletic. I'm more of an indoor type of guy. But I do the indoor stuff outside. If, that makes sense in a way. But there a sport which I can totally say that I'm good at. I even have medals to prove it. When I was in my junior and senior year in high school, I came out champion during our Intramural week. Or days, actually. We only have it for, like, three days. The third night being the victory night where everyone gets to enjoy nonstop dancing. Provided, that rain's not gonna ruin everything. Oh, nostalgia! The mere thought of Intrams gives a lot of memories. Forgotten memories, really.
The sport I'm talking about is...
Yeah. That's table tennis. Or Ping Pong. Or tennis-on-a-table. Or small-racket-based-game. It's, actually a inherited skill. More of an heirloom in a sports kind of way. Everyone from my mother's side is good with the sports, so, it's kinda a necessity for me to learn it and be, actually, good at it.
So that's it. But before we part ways, here are some few things I learned about Ping Pong... (It's more of a Q&A, actually)
Q: In what year did table tennis become an Olympic sport?
A: 1988. Table tennis was admitted as a full medal sport at the Seoul Olympics.
Q: The 'shake hands' is the most popular grip.
A: This is where you basically shake hands with the bat. Another grip is the penhold which gives a good forehand but a weaker backhand.
Q: What are some of the names that table tennis has been called over the years?
A: All of these ('Flim-Flam', 'Gossima', 'Whiff Whaff'). Although the origins of the game are unclear, it is known that it started as a parlour game in England in the 1890s and played on a dining room table.
Q: On the serve, how high must the ball be thrown from the flat of the hand?
A: 6 inches. The ball must be placed on the flat of the hand to avoid any spin that the fingers may put on it, therefore giving the server an unfair advantage.
Q: Today's bats are made of wooden blades covered in rubber. When the game was first played what were they made of?
A: All of these (cork, cardboard, wood). They were then covered with cloth, leather or sandpaper and played with champagne corks or light knitted web balls. Later on, 'pimpled' rubber and lightweight balls became the norm.
Q: How many competitive players take part in competitions worldwide?
A: Over 40 million. As well as the unknown numbers of those who play for fun. That's a lot of table tennis balls.
Q: Who were the world powers in table tennis in the late 1990s and early 2000s?
A: Sweden, China and Korea.
Q: Only the serving side can add points to its score.
A: False. It doesn't matter who is serving, whoever wins the point gets it added to their score.
Q: Why was table tennis banned in the Soviet Union from 1930-1950?
A: It was allegedly harmful to the eyes.
Q: In the 1890s which sports equipment manufacturer marketed a game called 'Indoor Tennis', a game based on table tennis that we know today?
A: Parker Brothers. Parker Bros. also trademarked the name 'Ping-Pong' after the noise the ball made on the bat and the table. Thus the confusion over the correct title of the game.
Thank you funtrivia.com for these, uhm, trivia.
Bye, minna :D
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