Ping London

Boris Johnson: making London Ping Pong Central ! The Mayor of London, will turn the tables on China this summer by opening up the capital to one of Britain’s “lost” sports. Johnson, himself a master of spin and splice, teased the Chinese two years ago, when he was in Beijing to become the standard bearer for the 2012 London Olympics, by questioning the birthright of table tennis. He insisted the game was not Chinese but a descendant of whiff whaff, a game of the Victorian upper classes. This summer he launches the two-year run-up to the Games with a cultural Olympiad in London. It will have 100 ping pong tables set up at open-air landmarks in the capital for matches played by celebrities and artists.