Everyone who writes the history of international table tennis will mention Mr. Ivor Montagu, one of the founders of the ITTF. Because almost all important things in table tennis are related to him. He is one of the founders of table tennis rules, the organizer of the world table tennis championship and an active agitator to carry out table tennis. It is precisely because of him that table tennis has developed from a game and entertainment activity into a competitive sport, which has created a new era of international competition.
Mr. montague was born into an aristocratic family in England in 19O5, and he took an active part in table tennis in college. In 1926, at the age of 21, he participated in the table tennis competition held in Berlin and the symposium on the establishment of the International Table Tennis Federation. Because he can speak two languages fluently, his personality is warm and humorous, and he has organizational skills, he has attracted the attention of the participants and served as the chairman of the ITTF Advisory Committee. In 1937, Mr montague became the first president of the ITTF.
it is impossible to test who invented table tennis. But it is generally believed that its birthplace may be Britain. At first, you may just play around at the dinner table with very rough equipment. It was not until 19, when the plastic table tennis was invented, that it replaced the gum and cork balls commonly used at that time, and this game gradually became popular in Britain and Europe. The early production of the ball set is called Gossimar, whiff-Whaff (imitating the sound made by the racket rubbing against the air) or Ping-Pong (the Chinese word for ping-pong must have come from this), which is said to have been registered as a patent trademark (see the picture below). In 1926, five countries held a meeting in Berlin, which resulted in the establishment of the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF). The ITTF now has 14 member countries and holds the World Championships every two years. Before 196, almost all the world championships were won by players from Hungary, France and Sweden. In the early 196s, Japan rose suddenly and won the leading position in table tennis in the world. However, from the mid-196s to the 198s, China often won all kinds of championships, while Japanese, Swedish and some Eastern European countries only won one or two titles intermittently. In 1978, the famous "ping pong diplomacy" between China and the United States pushed this movement onto the historical stage. China's absolute superiority in table tennis was finally broken by South Korean and Swedish players in the late 198s when table tennis became an Olympic event.