Table Tennis is the Fastest.....

[DaveR]

Table Tennis at a high level is one of the fastest in the World, but not actually in the top 5 which astounds me at times given the shear reaction times involved.


The top 5 are currently

1. Jai Alai 188 mph (unofficial at 200mph indeed)
2. Golf ball at 170mph (some putter huh?)
3. Badminton (in a jump smash) the shuttle leaves the racket at 162 mph.
4. Tennis 153mph, recorded with a service of Andy Rod****. This will be improved i'm sure.
5. Squash (racquetball) 151 mph.

Strangely enough the figures only say the speed of the ball but not the "ball to hand" or racket, this must come into the equation if the results are to be considered anywhere near accurate. Returning a Table Tennis ball which has been looped or hit extremely hard is an amazing feat when you consider the reflex time involved in reacting to that player who is maybe only 5 or 6 feet away.

The sport of Table Tennis is still in my opinion one of the most difficult sports to achieve success at a high level or indeed any level. Other sports such as football can be quite easy in relation to Table Tennis for example we can all strike a ball hard and even maybe score a fantastic goal if we hit the target, which many professionals seem to find difficult even though paid obscene amounts of loot to do so. Not so with Table Tennis, with technique and timing being so important that if you swing harder and slightly nis time or get the racket angle even a degree or two incorrect the inevitable happens.....you hit the opponent in the eye ! So my conclusion is this and a poll to go with it
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By the way
Jai alai (IPA (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:Pronunciation): /ˈhaɪəlaɪ/ in English (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_language) and IPA (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:IPA): [jaɪɑlaɪ] or IPA (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:IPA): [xaɪɑlaɪ] in Basque) means "Merry Festival" in the Basque language (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basque_language). The term is used to denote a fronton (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fronton) (or open-walled arena) used to play a variety of Basque Pelota (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basque_Pelota) called Cesta Punta (http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Cesta_Punta&action=edit&redlink=1), and, more broadly, to the game (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Game) itself.
The ball is placed into play and volleyed by players wearing a glove with an attached wicker basket (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basket) approximately 63 to 70 cm long. The game is characterized by the fast pace of play. The Basque Government (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basque_Government) promotes it as "the fastest game on Earth." A 125 g–140 g ball covered with goatskin (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goat) can travel up to 302 km/h (188 mph) (José Ramón Areitio (http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Jos%C3%A9_Ram%C3%B3n_Areitio&action=edit&redlink=1) at the Newport Jai Alai (http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Newport_Jai_Alai&action=edit&redlink=1), Rhode Island (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhode_Island) on August 3 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/August_3), 1979 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1979)[1] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jai_alai#cite_note-Guinness)[2] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jai_alai#cite_note-GuinnessFastest)).
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/28/Chist%C3%A9ra.jpg/180px-Chist%C3%A9ra.jpg (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Chist%C3%A9ra.jpg) [/URL]
The xistera


The basket-glove (xistera in Basque, cesta in Spanish) was introduced by [URL="http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Gantchiqui_Dithurbide&action=edit&redlink=1"]Gantchiqui Dithurbide (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Chist%C3%A9ra.jpg) from Saint-Pée (http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Saint-P%C3%A9e&action=edit&redlink=1), France in 1860,[1] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jai_alai#cite_note-Guinness) and its long version by Melchior Curuchage (http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Melchior_Curuchage&action=edit&redlink=1), from Buenos Aires (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buenos_Aires), Argentina (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Argentina) in 1888.[1] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jai_alai#cite_note-Guinness)
"Jai alai" (or just one of the words) appears frequently in crossword puzzles due to the high recurrence of vowels in its name. In a roughly ten-year survey of the New York Times daily crossword puzzle, "Jai ___" (for ALAI) was found to be the single most common clue-and-answer pair, appearing 39 times exactly the same way.
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Is Table Tennis the most difficult sport to become good at?

[Mr Wilko]

is it not the fastest on the smalest court?? if you think tennis,badminton etc are played on a much bigger scale giving the players more time to react???

i think it is probably the hardest game to be any good at even though anyone including there granny has played or been county champ.

you speak to people in pub and they say "oh i played tt was county champ" or "my mate used to play for england" when you ask there names it is always someone you have never heard of!!!!!

[MK Chris]

By the way
Jai alai (IPA (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:Pronunciation): /ˈhaɪəlaɪ/ in English (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_language) and IPA (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:IPA): [jaɪɑlaɪ] or IPA (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:IPA): [xaɪɑlaɪ] in Basque) means "Merry Festival" in the Basque language (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basque_language). The term is used to denote a fronton (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fronton) (or open-walled arena) used to play a variety of Basque Pelota (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basque_Pelota) called Cesta Punta (http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Cesta_Punta&action=edit&redlink=1), and, more broadly, to the game (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Game) itself.
The ball is placed into play and volleyed by players wearing a glove with an attached wicker basket (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basket) approximately 63 to 70 cm long. The game is characterized by the fast pace of play. The Basque Government (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basque_Government) promotes it as "the fastest game on Earth." A 125 g–140 g ball covered with goatskin (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goat) can travel up to 302 km/h (188 mph) (José Ramón Areitio (http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Jos%C3%A9_Ram%C3%B3n_Areitio&action=edit&redlink=1) at the Newport Jai Alai (http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Newport_Jai_Alai&action=edit&redlink=1), Rhode Island (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhode_Island) on August 3 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/August_3), 1979 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1979)[1] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jai_alai#cite_note-Guinness)[2] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jai_alai#cite_note-GuinnessFastest)).
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/28/Chist%C3%A9ra.jpg/180px-Chist%C3%A9ra.jpg (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Chist%C3%A9ra.jpg) [/URL]
The xistera


The basket-glove (xistera in Basque, cesta in Spanish) was introduced by [URL="http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Gantchiqui_Dithurbide&action=edit&redlink=1"]Gantchiqui Dithurbide (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Chist%C3%A9ra.jpg) from Saint-Pée (http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Saint-P%C3%A9e&action=edit&redlink=1), France in 1860,[1] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jai_alai#cite_note-Guinness) and its long version by Melchior Curuchage (http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Melchior_Curuchage&action=edit&redlink=1), from Buenos Aires (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buenos_Aires), Argentina (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Argentina) in 1888.[1] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jai_alai#cite_note-Guinness)
"Jai alai" (or just one of the words) appears frequently in crossword puzzles due to the high recurrence of vowels in its name. In a roughly ten-year survey of the New York Times daily crossword puzzle, "Jai ___" (for ALAI) was found to be the single most common clue-and-answer pair, appearing 39 times exactly the same way.
I was going to ask that.. however, unless you've got Wiki scraping software, I think you'd have saved a bit more time just linking to the article..!

Is Table Tennis the most difficult sport to become good at?
I wouldn't know, I've never been good..!

[Mousy]

Jai Alai is an incredibly fast and dangerous sport to play, but Table Tennis is the quickest reflex in my opinion.

[Moggy]

Juniors who start TT early have a obvious speed/reflex advantage once they reach 16+. Only when TT is played slower and you don't have the TT ball smacked passed you that experience has more impact. I'd say Ski Jumping was probably the hardest - one mistake and splat!

[Annie]

Table Tennis is the quickest reflex in my opinion.

I agree with you there. As mentioned already the reaction time has got to be the fastest? :covereyes:

[Robstar]

reaction time it must be faster than some of the ones mentioned by a long way

mind some of its players in northumberland aren't fast in going to the bar not sure if 2 of the taxi driver's understand it is your round ?

[Hovis Bread Eater]

Table tennis is chess on speed

[Roger]

I agree to obtain correct data it should measured from racket to racket

[Tinykin]

Jai Alai is an incredibly fast and dangerous sport to play, but Table Tennis is the quickest reflex in my opinion.

I think that the fastest sport, or the sport needing the fastest reflex/reaction is boxing. It's also the most painful.:yucky:

[Mr Wilko]

you dont have to be the fastest to be a good boxer!!!!