Ping pong anywhere

LUCKNOW: Table tennis will no longer be confined to indoors. The new mantra for the sport is “table tennis anywhere, anytime.� In the not-too-distant a future ping pong fans will be able to play whereever they choose — streets, gardens or open grounds.
Stag international of Meerut has already taken giant strides in this direction. After certain changes or modifications, an ambitious plan by the company is to hold an exhibition match at Eiffel Tower in two months’ time.
Working on a general feeling that indoor sports are not mass games or do not have global appeal which soccer or cricket enjoy, Stag International came up with this idea of taking the game outdoors.
Visualised by Vivek Kohli, a former international table tennis player himself, his sports company began to examine and explore the possibilities as to how to put this plan into action and what kind of material will have to be used. Gradually, the project began taking some shape. They worked on various ideas before settling for a thick plastic transparent curtains around the table to keep the wind and its pressure away. The curtains have been raised to 8 ft height so that the wind doesn’t interfere in the game .
A table, which has properties of an indoor table and can adapt to the outdoor atomosphere without affecting the game’s speed, has been especially designed for the project.
Now the efforts are being made to cut short the cost and the installation time besides making the transporation of the paraphernalia easier.
“We want to bring the cost down to $ 500. The ideal weight of it should be around 150 kgs, divided into five or six boxes. Earlier it used to take about one and half hours to get ready the table and surrounds . But we are planning to make it about 30 to 45 minutes,� said Kohli. “It is my dream project. I have really worked hard on it,� a smiling Kohli revealed to TNN .
The inventor feels the game is set to experience a high bounce in terms of popularity once this project is launched. “I am grateful to the international federation (ITTF) too for encouraging me to go ahead with the revolutionary plan.
ITTF vice-president George Shigun has also visited Meerut in this connection. He has suggested some alterations. Stag International, which exhibited the project during world championships in Paris earlier this year, is now striving to incorporate the changes and very eager to launch the project as soon as possible.