"Ping-pong" was the sound of the game as manufacturers built specialized tables and celluloid balls in the early 1900's, and after the sport had its run as a fad, a serious Eastern European table tennis movement began in the 1920's. But in the years after World War II, Asians revolutionized the game and elevated it to an art form.

Hiroji Satoh of Japan showed up at the 1952 World Championships with a racquet covered in sponge, and became the first non-European winner. There was no turning back: table tennis had become a canvas for expression, technology and innovation. New racquet surfaces and grips were developed, and Koreans, Chinese and Japanese players always seemed to have the best ideas. Finally, table tennis ascended to Olympic status at the 1988 Seoul Games.

At its root, the game is simple: hit the ball so it is not returned. Failure has four faces: hitting the ball into the net, or out of bounds, letting the ball bounce twice on one's side of the table, or touching the table with the hand that's not holding the paddle. Service rules are very strict: the ball must be held on the flat palm, thrown straight upward, and not hit until the descent begins. A game is won with 21 points (or a two-point spread beyond that number), and matches are best two out of three.

But it's the subtleties of the game that make it fascinating. Baseball pitchers, for instance, are identified by the kind of "stuff" they throw; table tennis players are typecast by their grip and their positioning. The flashiest is the Chinese style, which uses a precision penholder grip and a blitzing, fast-motion style designed to overwhelm. Western players usually employ the Western technique in which the grip looks like a handshake, trying to use topspin to win -- the best-looking matches, to spectators, are when practitioners of these two prevalent styles go up against each other. You'll also find defensive-oriented blockers, who stand close to the table and try to bat away balls like flies. Every so often, a chopper will rise through the ranks, a player who uses underspin to create dazzling trick shots.

Table Tennis Fun Facts:

• The single Olympic gold medal won by a non-Asian player belongs to a Swedish legend, the "Mozart of table tennis," Jan-Ove Waldner. The mercurial Scandinavian (and Western-style adherent) was known for losing his temper, but also for fierce intimidation. He lost only one game during his run to the men's singles gold at Barcelona in 1992, then earned a bronze eight years later in Sydney. Here's a YouTube tribute to the man, and the mashup music that accompanies the piece is apt: now retired from international competition, he was a Killer and a Gorilla.

• Rallies can theoretically last forever. During the 1932 World Championships, a Polish player and a Romanian opponent played a single point that lasted for an hour. No YouTube video exists of the incident.

• Early readers of the site, or those with a four-year memory, might recall the story of Singapore's Li Jiawei. She was one set away from her nation's first Olympic medal since 1960, but was undone in the last two sets by a South Korean blocker.

• Once upon a time, table tennis served a key role in thawing the permafrost between this year's host nation and the United States. Several U.S. teams were invited to China after the 1971 World Championships to play a series of friendly matches, an event that spawned "ping-pong diplomacy." The two countries exchanged players for trips, and China and the United States were able to find common ground (some might say it was their shared hatred of the Soviet Union). In 1972, U.S. president Richard Nixon made a visit to China that opened a line of uneasy communication that lasts to this day.

In 2008:

The table tennis tournaments will be held from August 13 through 23 (Days 5-15) at the Peking University Gymnasium. As since 1988, both men's and women's singles events will be contested. But a change in the program will have doubles events for both genders eliminated, replaced by a pair of team competitions (men's and women's) that will each feature 16 nations and a round-robin preliminary. There will be three players per team, and three matches will be held: two singles matches, followed by doubles. Whichever of the three does not participate in a singles match must play in the final doubles.

All-Time Medal Standings:

Nation	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
China	16	11	6	33
South Korea	3	2	9	14
Sweden	1	1	1	3
North Korea	0	1	2	3
Chinese Taipei	0	1	1	2
France	0	1	1	2
Germany	0	1	1	2
Yugoslavia	0	1	1	2
Hong Kong	0	1	0	1
Denmark	0	0	1	1

(Photo via 1996 Official Report)