The game of table tennis began in Great Britain in the 18th century and initially it was only popular in the high class societies. This game also known as the ping pong is played by two players in case on a singles match and four players in case of a doubles match. There are two players on both teams and the decision of who will serve first is made by a toss. The game is played with a racket and a ball over a table which has a net in the middle. The history of table tennis is strewn with many famous talented and gifted players who are responsible for the immense popularity and demand for this game.
Jean-Philippe Gatien, who was born on 16 October 1968 in the state of Ales, France, is a retired player and competed at four Olympic Ga
...mes. He won silver in singles at the Barcelona Olympics (1992). He also won a bronze in doubles in the company of Patrick Chila at the 2000 Olympics. He was a 13-time Champion de France.
He had also won the 1993 World Table Tennis Championship and the Table Tennis World Cup in 1994. The Beijing Olympics table tennis outcome has only proved that most of the best table tennis players belong to China. The other countries which also have a share in the pool of talented tennis players are France, Belgium, Austria and Germany. One of the best known Chinese table tennis stars is Kong Linghui. She had won two titles at the world cup, three medals at the Olympics and she pulled up gold at the world championship. However her biggest achievement
was winning the 2000 grand slam.
Other famous tennis players belonging to China are: Cao Yanhua who won the female world championship seven times and the international championships four times; Deng Yapping who won the doubles world championship as well as the worlds singles championship thrice and two gold’s in the Olympics; and Ma Lin who is one of the best players of tennis in the world these days and has won the gold in the 2004 Olympics doubles and four tennis world cups between 2000 and 2006. An extremely gifted player who, apart from winning titles, has made a lot of contributions to the game of table tennis is Jan-Olve Waldner of Sweden. He is the only singles champion in the history of the game to have won world championship without suffering defeat in any of the game. Besides winning games he also invented many different kinds of common strokes variation while playing the game. His most famous move was the shake hand move which became immensely popular because of him.
One of the Austrian tennis players who is considered as the best defensive player of all times is Richard Bergman whose amazing record includes winning seven world championships during his days as a tennis player for Austria. Andrzej Grubba who plays for Poland is another remarkable player who is known as the most gifted east European player in the game of table tennis. His success chart includes medals from twelve European championships, gold at the 1988 world cup and three medals of bronze from the world championships.
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