Lawn tennis is one of the most popular as well as glamorous sports in world. It is also renowned as a rich sport because of astronomical prize sums. The origin of tennis is still not ascertained because of conflicting theories. There are different versions about its origin. Some say, it came from ancient ball games played in Egypt. Some other find it originating from Greeks and Romans. Harpastum was an ncient roman game which was later adopted in the basque country and renamed as ‘jeu do paume’. The new name took place because of the nature of the game in which ball was being used to hit by hands on a wall. Then in France it was named as ‘paume’ but the rules and format had changed. The racket was invented by Italians in fourteenth century. Soon, introduction of rubber ball took place and game again changed and played as it is being played today.
Like lawn tennis, the origin of table tennis is also not sure. However, one thing is sure and that is its young age compared to its illustrious peer. The first trace of table tennis can be found in early 1880s when British officers in India and other parts of the Asia used to play this game differently. The game was called indoor tennis and lids from cigar boxes and rounded corks from wine bottles were used as paddles and balls. In Britain, the same game was initially called as gossima and whiff whaff during 1890s. Parker brothers were the first to manufacture complete indoor tennis kit that included portable net, paddles and balls. James Gibb introduced new balls in the game and named it ping pong.
