First of all, the basic rules:
Table tennis consists of sets, i.e. a player has to win 3 out of 5 sets to win the match.
A set is considered won when the first player has reached 11 points. If both players have 10 points, the game continues until one of the two has a lead of 2 points and can thus decide the set in his favour.
After each set, a change of sides takes place. In the 5th and last set this happens when the first player has 5 points.

Serving rules:

The ball must be free lying on the open hand.
The ball must be thrown behind the table and at least 16cm high.
The ball must be played in such a way that it first comes up on one's own side and then on the opponent's side.
Each player has 2 serves, after which the right to serve changes.
Exception: If the set is extended at a score of 10:10, each player has only one serve each in turn.
If the ball touches the net during the serve, it must be repeated.

If the ball is not hit after being thrown up, this counts as a point for the opponent.

So now you know the basics for a real table tennis match!

What else do you need? 
Well, 2 table tennis bats, a table tennis table and a table tennis ball! Of course you can find everything in our KETTLER Shop ;)

The internationally recognised standard for table tennis tables is a measurement of 2.74 metres long and 1.525 metres wide. The table must also be 0.76 metres above the ground.

According to the rules, the net should be 15.25 centimetres high.
With a KETTLER table tennis table you can be sure that you have the right dimensions and your table tennis tournament can start!

A short history of table tennis

As already mentioned, England is considered the motherland of table tennis. Here, the sport developed from the "original tennis", which was moved indoors due to bad weather conditions (called room tennis). For this reason, the rules of tennis were adopted for table tennis. The first real table tennis club was founded in England in 1900.
The German Table Tennis Federation was then founded in 1925. The very first table tennis world championship took place in London in 1926 and the first world champion was the Hungarian player Roland Jacobi.

However, table tennis did not become a sport at the Olympic Games until 1988. Out of a total of 37 gold medals distributed so far, a full 32 were won by the Chinese. Due to China's dominance in the sport, the rule was even introduced in 2012 that only 2 participants from the respective country are allowed to qualify. This meant that all 3 medals could no longer go to the same country. So far, Germany has not won a single gold medal in table tennis at the Olympics.
But what is not, can still become!

With the KETTLER table tennis tables, the youngsters are in any case well equipped to perhaps have a great table tennis career later on!