Remember what a little ping-pong game did for the relationship between china and the USA in the 1970s? The "ping-pong diplomacy" melted the ice between the two countries, after which US president Richard Nixon paid a groundbreaking visit to China in 1972.
Obviously, with the 2008 Beijing Olympics, it hasn't been the only time China has used sports to try to improve its image. China is called "table tennis kingdom". There are so many outstanding athletes.
Table tennis is a sport where two or four players hit a ball back and forth to each other with paddles. The game takes place on a table divided by a net. Players must allow a ball played towards them only one bounce on their side of the table and must return it so that it bounces on the opponent's side. Play is fast and demands quick reactions. A skilled player can impart spin to the ball, which makes its bounce and its reaction on the opponent's bat difficult to predict or return with confidence.
• Table tennis is very popular, especially in East Asia and is among the most popular sports in the world in terms of player numbers as well as one of the newest of the major sports.
ping-pong diplomacy opened by the Nixon administration toward China in the 1970s.The match commemorated a historic 1971 exhibition match held between the two nations that was dubbed "ping pong diplomacy, " and began the thaw in relations between the Cold War rivals.TablBiblioteka -tennis’ History
• Table-tennis originated in the late 19th century. With cork or rubber balls. First popular in England, it spread to several European countries and to the United States in the early 20th century. The International Table-tennis Federation was founded (1926) to standardize the rules and equipment. The U.S. Table-tennis Association was founded in 1933.
The National Game of China
Maybe, in some people’s mind, table tennis is regarded as origin from china. This mistake must be remedied and put right. The truth is In 1904, a shanghai shop keeper called tools home, the game was Wang Dao WU, brought 10 sets of table tennis therein introduced to china.
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The 1971 visit launched an era of "Ping-Pong diplomacy, " and according to Time, "Probably never before in history has a sport been used so effectively as a tool of international diplomacy.
PING-PANG STAR
王励勤
许昕
郭跃
邓亚萍
王皓
孔令辉
陈杞
刘国梁
马龙
张继科
ZhangYining
Zhang Yining started playing table tennis at the age of 5 and at the age of 14, she joined the Chinese National Team. She has been holding the first place in the ITTF world women’s table tennis ranking from January 2003, an incredible achievement by any standard. In the last several years, she had always been at the top 3 spots in women’s rankings. Zhang Yining has a nick name of the "cool-face killer", because she never smiles in the game.