Ping Pong Table Dimensions

The game of ping pong, or table tennis is played on a table with either two or four players. After its inception in Britain, the game became popular worldwide. In the United Kingdom, the game of ping pong was known as wiff-waff. It was played as an entertainment activity after dinner. It was not a standardized game; piles of books kept on the table served as the net. There were no specially designed rackets and books were used instead. A golf ball was used to play wiff-waff. Let us find more about measurements of a ping pong table and related data through this article.

A ping pong table is made from Masonite which is a hardboard composed of wooden chips. The wooden chips used in manufacturing these hardboards are treated beforehand with steam in order to form long fibers. The fibers are in turn used for making boards. Dimensions of ping pong table are provided below.

• Length: The length of ping pong table should be 9 feet. In terms of metric system of measurement, the length has to be 2.74 m. It is the standard length as specified by the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF). Length of the table is divided in two halves by a net.
• Width:The width of ping pong table need to be 5 feet. It becomes 1.525 m in the metric terms. Width-wise, a white line divides the table in 2 parts. Two sections created by the white line prove to be useful when a doubles game is played on the table.
• Height: The ping pong table has to be 30 inches or 2 feet 6 inches above ground level.
• Net: Height of the net should be 6 inches or 15 cm. Assembly of the net consists of supporting posts and clamps that help in attaching net to the table. A cord is used for suspending the net from supporting posts; net is made from nylon.

Surface of the table should be such that when a ping pong ball is dropped on it from 12 inches height, a 8¾ inch bounce should be attained. The ball should bounce in a uniform manner along the entire surface of table. It is advisable to have a dark-colored surface for the ping pong table. Colors generally used to paint the table surface are green or blue. The white line which divides each half of the table in 2 sections need to be 3 mm in thickness. Lines which act as a border along the table surface should be 2 cm in thickness. Although white lines serve as a border of table surface, the playing area extends up to edges of the table and includes the 2 cm thickness of lines.

Dimensions of Ball and Bat

It is important to know the dimensions of a racquet and the ball along with that of table dimensions. The ping pong ball has a diameter of 40 mm. It is hollow and made of celluloid. Earlier, the ball diameter used to be 38 mm in diameter. If a ball gets 3 star rating, it means that the roundness and bounce are consistent. Ideally, the ball should weigh 2.7 g. The racquet or bat used for table tennis should have a length of 10.6 cm. The height and width need to be 19.36 cm and 15.24 cm respectively. Weight of the racket is around 180 grams. The racket is known by the names 'bat' and 'paddle' in Europe and US respectively.

The game of ping pong developed a lot after its inception in Britain. Table Tennis Association was formed in the year 1921 in London; this development was followed by founding of International Tennis Federation in 1926. In 1988, the game of ping pong was introduced in Olympics.

Ping pong is a game that requires players to have a high level of concentration, good reflexes and the ability to spin the ball. The ping pong table dimensions presented in the article above introduce us to the basics of this game. It is a nice game that can be played during leisure time and also at the professional level.