Table tennis

Table tennis, also known as ping pong, is a sport in which two or four players hit a lightweight ball back and forth across a table using a small paddle. The game takes place on a hard table divided by a net. Except for the initial serve, the rules are generally as follows: Players must allow a ball played toward them to bounce one time on their side of the table, and must return it so that it bounces on the opposite side at least once. Points are scored when a player fails to return the ball within the rules. Play is fast and demands quick reactions. Spinning the ball alters its trajectory and limits an opponent's options, giving the hitter a great advantage. When doing so the hitter has a better chance of scoring if the spin is successful.

Table tennis is governed by the worldwide organization International Table Tennis Federation, founded in 1926. ITTF currently includes 220 member associations. The table tennis official rules are specified in the ITTF handbook. Table tennis has been an Olympic sport since 1988, with several event categories. In particular, from 1988 until 2004, these were: men's singles, women's singles, men's doubles and women's doubles. Since 2008, a team event has been played instead of the doubles.

PingPong (band)

PingPong (Hebrew: פינג פונג‎) is an Israeli pop quartet that represented Israel in the Eurovision Song Contest in 2000 with the song Sameach (Hebrew: שמח‎, lit. Happy).

The members of the band were: Guy Assif, Ahal Eden, Roy Arad and Yifat Giladi{Fijoya}. The band released one album Between Moral and Fashion (2000, Hed Arzi) with songs like "Burger Ranch" (Israeli chain of fastfood restaurants), "I got a lover in Givati" and "Mr. Israel". This album sells only about 1000 copies.

Their hit song "Sameach" (Hebrew for "Happy") was admitted to the 2000 Eurovision Song Contest. At the close of voting the song had received 7 points, placing 22nd in a field of 24. The song lyrics mentioned a friend from Damascus who dates an Israeli girl. The band was sanctioned by the Israel Broadcasting Authority after waving the flag of Syria during the rehearsal and the video-clip of the song . They refused to back down for the performance in the final and pulled the flag out live , as planned, all to encourage the Israeli-Syrian peaceEhud Barak was negotiating at the time. They also visited a Syrian community center in Stockholm, where the Eurovision was held. The song was covered by the band Beer7, a punk band which the vocalist is Roey's younger sister.