Like many other sports, Table Tennis began as a mild social diversion descending, along with lawn tennis and badminton, from the ancient midlevel game of tennis. Very little can be said about the history of Table Tennis. There is the creation of the game, and the development of the game, but that’s all. The game was created in 1881 by bored British Officers, who carved a ball from champagne’s cork and used cigar covers to bat it back & forth across a barrier of books dividing a table.
It was popular in England in the second half of the nineteenth century under its present name & various trade names such as “ Gossima & Whiff -Whaff”. After the name “Ping-Pong” (an imitation of the sound made by the ball striking the table & the vellum bats that were used) was introduced by J. Jaques & Son, the game became a fashionable craze.
The early equipment comprised rubber or cork balls & bats made of dried animal skins stretched over a wooden frame. The game’s popularity rose steadily, sometimes dramatically and by 1901 Table Tennis tournaments were being organized.
Then, over the next sixty years, Table Tennis got developed by perhaps thirty million competitive players and by uncountable millions who played less seriously. However, the game itself has not changed in essence since its earliest days, though it is faster, more subtle & more demanding than it was even only 20 yrs. ago.
By this the game had undergone radical changes, both, in terms of playing rules & the accessories being used. The balls were being made from celluloid & bats consisted of sheets of pimpled rubber glued to wooden blades. Developments over later decades included “Sandwich” rubber (pimpled rubber attached to a layer of sponge), rubbers specially treated to impart extra spin or to absorb spin, & “speed” glues which were absorbed into the sponge to make the rubber springier and add speed to the ball.
National Associations were beginning to form during the 1920’s and due to the sport’s rapid growth, an International governing body was needed. On January 15th,1926, the International Table Tennis Federation was initiated by Dr. Georg Lehman of Berlin, Germany, by December, a construction & laws agreed upon and the first World Championships were held. The ITTF presently represents 127 Affiliated Associations. Today the game of Table Tennis has achieved the status of Corporate Game rather than game of table.
Table Tennis activities begun on Indian soil in 1935 at Kolkata and finally led to formation of Table Tennis Federation of India in 1939. The expansion of the National Championship moved by stages. In 1946 women’s singles was introduced & the Junior Team event for boys came in 1954. Sub Junior National Championship was introduced in the year 1994.
From early 1960’s till today, TTFI can very deservingly claim a superb achievement for India of not missing a single International meet. The pinnacle of TTFI’s organizational glory is the conducts of 33rd & 36th World Table Tennis Championships in 1975 & 1987 at Kolkata & New Delhi respectively. .
The success story continues, standard wise & organizationally. India today is one of the top 16 Table Tennis Nations in the World. It hosted the Asian Table Tennis Championships in 1980, Asian Junior Championships in 1992, Senior Asian Table Tennis Championships in 1994, Commonwealth Table Tennis Championships conducted in the years of 1982, 1993 & 2001, respectively.
Table Tennis is the third fastest game in the world. In general, TT is very much popular in India, but in particular, cities like Mumbai, Kolkatta, Chennai, Hyderabad, Vadodara and Ajmer have shown special interest towards the game. India has the distinction of producing world class Table Tennis players. Table Tennis in India, is played in schools, colleges, universities, clubs, individual homes and industrial Houses. With a view to develope this game, Table Tennis Association of Baroda(City and District) (TTAB) was established way back in October 1977. Today it has become a young & vibrant association of 46 years. Span of this over quarter century has imparted lot of radical changes in society about the perception towards the game of Table Tennis. TTAB have prioritized to make Table Tennis one of the most popular games in the District, State & Country.
The following were the founder members of TTAB:
TTAB, is affiliated to GSTTA which is affiliated and working under the guidelines of TTFI. Our achievements over the years, worth mentioning are listed below:
TTAB is only association in Gujarat, which not only conducts Open Baroda tournament but also conducts major ranking tournaments with the help and support of affiliated clubs, institutions and industries. TTAB conducts every year one Open Gujarat Major ranking tournament. It has started Inter School Table Tennis Tournaments.
In the past TTAB has conducted following Championships very successfully
West Zone Table Tennis Championship
Organized from 15th to 19th September,1995, in which top National and International players participated at Community Hall, IPCL, Township, Vadodara.
All India Inter Institutional Championship
organized from 1st to 7th August,1998, jointly with IPCL. In this Championship top teams and top players of India participated at Community Hall, IPCL, Township, Vadodara.
National Ranking Table Tennis Championship (West)
organized from 2nd to 6th November,1999, in which top National & International Players participated at Balbhavan, Vadodara.
Nirma National Ranking Table Tennis Championship
Organized form 20th to 24th December,2000, in which top National and International players like Chetan Baboor, S Raman, Soumyadeep Roy, Subhajit Saha, N.R. Indu, P.Ghatak, Montu Ghosh, M.S.Mithily, participated at Balbhavan, Vadodara.
63rd Sub Junior National & Inter State Table Tennis Championships
Organized from 14th to 21st December, 2001, in which 24 teams and top players of India participated at Indoor Tennis Court, Laxmi Vilas palace , Motibaug, Vadodara.
National Ranking Table Tennis Championships
Competitors included top National and International players like Sharath Kamal, S. Raman, Soumyadeep Roy, Subhajit Saha, N R Indu, Poulomi Ghatak and Mouma Das.
National Ranking Table Tennis Championships
organized from 8th to 12th January,2005. Participants included top National and International players like Sharath Kamal, S. Raman, S. Roy, Subhajit Saha, Poulomi Ghatak and Mouma Das.
All India Prize Money Table Tennis Tournament
organized from 1st to 5th December,2007. Participants included, top National and International players like Soumyadeep Roy, Subhajit Saha Poulomi Ghatak, Mouma Das and Montu Ghosh. This was the biggest prize Money Tournament of the country.
National Ranking Table Tennis Championships
(Central Zone) organized from 23rd to 27th December,2010. Participants included top National and International players like Soumyadeep Roy, Mouma Das, Neha Agrawal, S Satyan at Gaekwad Baroda Golf Club, Laxmi Vilas Palace, Motibaug, Vadodara.
11even Sports Inter School Table Tennis National Championships
10th to 12th Dec 2016 at Sama Indoor Sports Complex, Vadodara
11even Sports Junior and Youth National And Inter State Table Tennis Championships
Organised from 6 – 11 Jan 2017 at Sama Indoor Sports Complex, Vadodara.
11SPORTS 63rd National School Games Table Tennis Championships
Organised from 3 – 7 Jan 2018 at Sama Indoor Sports Complex, Vadodara.
11SPORTS 64th National School Games Table Tennis Championships
Organised from 2 – 6 Jan 2018 at Sama Indoor Sports Complex, Vadodara.
UTT – 6th Asian School Table Tennis Championships
Organized from 13th - 21st August 2019 at Sama Indoor Sports Complex, Vadodara.
UTT 65th National School Games Table Tennis Championships
Organized from 5th - 9th January 2020 at SAMA Indoor Sports Complex, VMSS, New Sama Road, Vadodara
UTT National Ranking Table Tennis Championships
Organized from 15th to 20th January, 2023 SAMA Indoor Sports Complex, VSPF, Vadodara
TTAB is indeed proud to have eight international umpires from Vadodara: S/Shri P. Vipradas, Kalpesh Thakkar, H.R. Desai, Jityang Bhatt, RG Sheth, Dr. Atul Gupte, Shailesh Gosai and L.V. Thakre.
Shri P.S. Vipradas represented India as an Umpire at the 36th World TT Championships conducted at Novisad, Yugoslavia. He was also selected as an Umpire for the 33rd World Table Tennis Championships and the 5th Asian Championships. He has also been the Chief Referee in many International, National and State Level championships. His accuracy and proficiency has helped win laurels for himself and also for TTAB.
Shri Kalpesh Thakkar, as a player, was selected by TTFI to compete in the US Open Table Tennis Championship at Fort Louder Del, Florida in the year 1997-98.
Shri Kalpesh Thakkar’s representation at National/ International level as an Official/ Umpire:
Shri Jityang Bhatt was selected as an International Umpire for the 17th Commonwealth Championship from 30th May to 5th June, 2007 held at Jaipur. He was selected as an International Umpire for 19th Asian Table Tennis Championships from 16th to 22nd November, 2009 held at Lucknow.
TTAB has produced several players who have represented Gujarat State in different National Championships. Such as:
Yogesh Desai, Prashant Mehta, A. Babi, Umesh Thorat, Kalpesh Thakkar, Lata George, Vasundhara Gupte, Smita Dalvi, Seema Dalvi, Chanrika Julasana, Meena Kanani, Alok Jain, Satish Patel, R. G.Sheth, Rajeev Sharma, Zankar Pandya, Sunil Mehta, Ajay Gupta, A.K. Khanderiya, Subal Mehta, Dhawal Mehta, Neil Desai, Arav Shah, Sumit Tembe, Pritesh Makhija, Bhinnang Kothari, Malay Parikh, Jalay Mehta, Bhusha Mehta, Krupa Majmudar, Ruchit Shah, Pankti Shah, Vishwa Shah, Shushrut Padhye, Jay Vakil, Shubham Chaddha, Aalap Patel, Tansha Anand, Nauka Shah, Neha Puri, Neha Saxena, Mitali Thakre, Surbhi Patel, Harsh Thakre, Aniket Thakkar, Shikhar Chokshi, Purva Shah, Parikshit Sorathia, Himali Gosai, Tanushri Joshi, Pinak Bowlekar, Pratham Madlani, Purva Nimbalkar, Malhar Thakkar, Manush Shah , Vidit Desai, Sheli Patel, Shail Dharpale, Dhruv Budhdeo and other players.
After laying strong foundation, TTAB has achieved numerous laurels both by the players as well as the officials, over the last 46 years and are now confident not only to keep up but also to further improve the performance in the coming years.
TTAB hopes to continue getting support from Office Bearers of the Association, Players, Referees, Umpires, Officials, Institutions, Clubs, State and local Authorities, GSTTA, TTFI and Media who have helped popularize the game for over 46 years.
Table Tennis Association of Baroda (City and District) (TTAB) was established way back in October 1977. Today it has become a young & vibrant association of 46 years.
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