[SportsandRec] Audible ping-pong, one of the oldest sports for the blind?

[Ricky Lomey]

Hi list

I am sending this as a sports fan, not a representative of any blind sports
organisation  at all. Did you know that ping-pong is different than table
tennis? So what, what relevance is this to this list and to blind sports?
Very relevant indeed according to what I read. I thought one shouldn't call
table tennis ping-pong as ping-pong could be offensive. In 2019 I read on a
table tennis RSS feed about the world ping-pong championships, for sighted
people, though not sure if ping-pong runs independently from table tennis at
an organised level, then I asked some sighted people and I was told that the
difference is that, in ping-pong, the ball is served across the table,
whereas in table tennis, the ball is served bouncing the ball, like in other
racket sports and I thought, hang on, they say, as we've discussed on this
list at times in years gone by, that table tennis without sight is near
impossible, so then, the table tennis for the blind in parts of Asia, using
the actual table tennis ball with sound and serving across the table, is
ping-pong, with the exception that the ball rolls across the table instead
of obviously flying via the air and players wearing blindfolds and the net
being higher and channels around the table, so, while table tennis may
perhaps not be adaptable, ping-pong then has been played with sound in Japan
since 1933, although the one issue, from what I gather, hindering
recognition could be that, like with the Canadian and IBSA recognised and
promoted Showdown and like the Australian Swish game, the ball does not
travel through the air, not sure if this would be an issue in playing
Showdown as a Paralympic sport officially but Malaysia told me that in the
case of ping-pong this seems to be a barrier. I've also heard that blind
ping-pong is less blind friendly than Showdown.

Ricky Lomey