Before we go into the history of table tennis in Nigeria, let’s take know the nature of the game.
Nature of the Game
Table Tennis is played on Table 0.76m by 2 or 4 players. When two players play it is called singles while the doubles same is when four players are involve.
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There are mixed doubles which involves 2 boys/men and 2 girls/ladies. A boy and girls faces each other. The game begins with a serve from the server after a toss for choice of service has been decided.
History of Table Tennis In Nigeria
The game of the table tennis was originated by an English man called James Gibb in the modern form in 1889 and called it “Gossima” and in England in about 1890.
As early as 1920, the game was still called “Ping Pong” because of the noise made by the ball when hit back and forth by the rocket or bat.
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The game lost its popularity for some time until 1921 when it was revived by 1926 the international Table tennis federation was formed with the headquarters in Berlin. The first chairman of ITTF was Ivor Montagu an office he kept until 1967.
Following the formation of the international body in 1926, National Association began to develop and 1933, the United States Table Tennis Federation was formed.
England dominated the game for a long time, the Asian countries such as china have become champions of the game in recent times.
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Now to the history of History of Table Tennis In Nigeria.
The beginning of table tennis in Nigeria is not very clear but the coming of th white men especially the missionaries who introduced schools also brought the game.
In 1961, the Nigeria table tennis association (NTTA) was formed since then then there has been a lot of competitions at local, state, national and international levels.
