table tennis

Table tennis is an Olympic sport where two or four players hit a ball with a bat back and forth to each other on a table, in a manner similar to tennis. The rules are slightly different, but the concept is basically the same. When you serve a ball the ball is not required to hit the opposite box on the table, but many people believe it is supposed to because of it's sister sport Tennis. Ball spin, speed, placement, strategy and tactics play an important part in competitive table tennis matches. The international rules specify that the game is played with a light 2.7 gram, 40 mm (formerly 38 mm) diameter ball. The ball is required to have a coefficient of restitution of .4. The 40 mm ball was introduced at the 2003 World Table Tennis Championship. However, this created some controversy as the Chinese National Team complained that this was merely to give non-Chinese players a better chance of winning. A 40mm table tennis ball is slower and less "spinny" than a 38mm one. The ball is made of a high-bouncing gas-filled celluloid ball, colored white or orange, with a matte finish. The choice of ball color is made according to the table color and its surroundings. For example a white ball is easier to see on a green table or a blue table. Sports ball (including table tennis) exports from China are rising steadily as more overseas buyers are sourcing from the country and more suppliers continue to enhance the quality of their products while keeping prices relatively low. Steadily increasing overseas demand is pushing China's sports ball (including table tennis) suppliers to boost production capacity. But amid healthy export growth, the industry is reeling under the pressures of the country's labor shortage, increasing production costs and intense competition.