As our Gold Coast 2018 Sport Focus on Table Tennis comes to an end, here are 12 things you might not know about the sport:
1. Table Tennis first appeared on the Commonwealth Games programme in Manchester 2002 and has appeared at each Games since. Originally optional, it has now been made a core sport.
2. Para-Sport Table Tennis is an optional discipline and is included in Gold Coast 2018.
3. Singapore has been the top nation in Table Tennis at every Games where the sport has been contested, winning 44 medals including 18 gold.
4. Scotland took bronze in the Men’s Team event at the 2013 Commonwealth Championships but have yet to win a Table Tennis medal at the Commonwealth Games.
5. Commonwealth Games Table Tennis competition consists of a total of nine medal events. There are Singles, Doubles and Team events for both men and women, including two Para-Sport events in men’s and women’s singles.
6. The Gold Coast 2018 Table Tennis competition will take place at Oxenford Studios – filming venue for Hollywood blockbusters such as San Andreas, Scooby Doo and Unbroken – the first time the venue will have been used for a sports event.
7. Table Tennis originated in Victorian England and has been known as whiff-whaff, flim-flam, punch ball, pim-pam and gossima.
8. The International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) was formed in 1926 and now has 226 member associations. It has been an Olympic sport since 1988.
9. The size of the ball was changed from 38mm to 40mm after the 2000 Olympic Games so that spectators could see the ball clearly on TV, effectively slowing the game down.
10. Table tennis is the most popular indoor sport in the world with over 10 million players competing in sanctioned tournaments each year.
11. Ping Pong, played with sandpaper bats, has its own World Championships. Scotland’s Gavin Rumgay has reached the quarter-finals and has a career high World ranking of 7.
12. Team Scotland will be represented by three players at Gold Coast 2018. Gavin Rumgay competes at his fourth Games, Craig Howieson his third and Colin Dalgleish makes his Games debut. Meet them in their Athlete Profiles.