Table tennis started as an after-dinner game, but is now a fast, high-tech sport. It also has most players of any sport in the world.
is believed that upper-class Victorians in England invented table tennis in the 1880s as an after-dinner alternative (可能的选择) to tennis, (use) whatever they could find as equipment. A line of books would often be the net, and sometimes a cigarette box cover would be a racket.
In 1926, at a meeting (hold) in Berlin, the International Table Tennis Federation was formed. The first World Championships were held in London in the same year, but the sport had to wait a long time before it was given a chance (make) its first appearance at the 1988 Seoul Olympic Games.
The sport (progress) greatly since it was first invented. Nowadays, players use (special) developed rackets and a lightweight, hollow (空心的) ball. Thanks to their high-tech rackets, they can now enjoy the (magic) feeling of hitting the ball at over 150 kilometres per hour!
Over the years, table tennis has developed into a worldwide sport. There are perhaps 40 million competitive table tennis players and countless millions play less seriously. Hopefully, table tennis (play) by more people all over the world in the future.
