But table tennis, with its ironies and self-consciousness, its compact adventurism and its nervy claustrophobia, seems the perfect parable of earthly vanity. And failure likewise comes to me in the figure of an unseen presence thwarting me in the shadows, untroubled by every shot I play. Hence my impatience when someone who has never diced with death or felt the ball come onto his racket like a fainting lover tells me he is good at table tennis, when all he is really good at is ping-pong. Table tennis was first contested in 1988. A point is won for every rally won and serve changes every five points.
Officials monitor the glue used to stick the rubber layers onto the bat.
Using some glues can increase speed and can mean disqualification. Though the game is very fast-paced, it can also move very slowly. At the 1936 World Championships in Prague, two defensive players took more than one hour to contest one point. Howard Jacobson's table tennis novel, The Mighty Walzer, is published in paperback by Vintage. Get start lists and fast results for Table Tennis.