Pang Pong
Pang Pong is a hybrid of tennis and ping pong. The name comes from the sound when the ball is being hit from one side to the next, pang - pong - pang - pong and is played on asphalt with racquets made of wood, a soft tennis ball and a net in form a wooden plank. Rules are similar to tennis or ping-pong but is played in shorter matches of 3 games.
History
The game was invented in 1922, during the Taisho era, on the Hitachi Ltd. factory campus in Japan. Pang Pong was started as a lunch exercise, but has since has grown into a local sport in Ibaraki Prefecture. Tournaments within Hitachi plants, between plants, and among citizens in Ibaraki prefecture in Japan are organized. Outside Japan the sport is little known, but tournaments have been organized in Harrodsburg, Kentucky, United States, connected to the Hitachi Automotive plant there.Rules
Court
Pang Pong is played on a rectangular flat court, normally outdoors on asphalt alternatively indoors on plastic floor.The court is 7 x 2.5 m with an inner serve area of 5.5 x 1 meter. The net is made of a 3-meter wooden plank, placed 40 cm above ground.
Equipment
Racquets are made of wood, 30 x 20 cm and ca 10 mm in thickness. A simple ledge can be mounted on one of the short sides to make it easier to hold.The ball is an air-pumped rubber ball, size like a tennis ball. If the ball is dropped from 1 meter altitude it should bounce back up 50–60 cm if it is correctly pumped.
The game
Before the match a coin is flipped to determine the first server. One of the players will serve to start the game and the serve is hit into the receivers inner serve area without touching the net/plank.The receiver will hit the ball back into the servers court side.