World Table Tennis Day (06/04)

World Table Tennis Day, still a young holiday –, was first celebrated in 2015. But this did not stop him from immediately becoming popular almost all over the world.

The initiators of the establishment of a new sports date were the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) with the aim of popularizing this sport, promoting it in different countries, uniting people interested in it, and, of course, promoting a healthy lifestyle.

Initially, the date of the holiday was chosen to be April 6 and timed to coincide with the International Day of Sports for Development and Peace. But in 2023, the date of World Table Tennis Day was moved to April 23, in honor of the birthday of Ivor Montague –, the famous British tennis player, organizer of the first ever World Table Tennis Championship (1926) and founder, as well as the first president of the International Federation.

Table tennis (also known as «ping pong») dates back more than a century, and today it is an Olympic sport (since 1988). This is a sports game based on throwing a special ball with rackets on a gaming table with a net according to certain rules. The players' goal is to achieve a situation where the opponent cannot hit, or not hit correctly, the ball.

According to the ITTF, table tennis is played professionally on all inhabited continents – 227 countries are members of the Federation (as of 2023).

Moreover, this sport is popular not only in the professional sports environment, but also among ordinary people. After all, this is literally a sport for everyone. Being a very accessible game, table tennis attracts people of different ages, genders, skills or different physical conditions to the ranks of its «fans». They can all play together, receiving a lot of positive emotions from the game. Thus, Thomas Weikert, who then served as president of the ITTF, said regarding the establishment of a new holiday that the « main idea is to involve as many new participants as possible in sports». And he proclaimed as the slogan of the Day: «Table tennis for everyone and everywhere!».

Therefore, it is not surprising that even in the very first year of celebrating Table Tennis Day, events dedicated to it (tournaments, master classes, demonstrations, parties and other events) took place literally all over the world. According to the ITTF, more than 50 countries from North, Central and South America, Europe and Asia participated.

Russian cities also happily picked up the idea of holding a new sports festival, which was celebrated with various competitions, relay races and tournaments at various levels. There were also master classes and demonstration performances by famous athletes. The arenas for events on this day were sports clubs, parks, educational and entertainment institutions, shopping centers and even streets, and everyone could participate.

Since then, according to the ITTF, – has been the official international holiday of all amateurs and professionals of table tennis. So, on April 23 and you are taking up the racket, together we will make table tennis accessible to everyone and everywhere!

1623