Table tennis tops popularity charts with youngsters, say Sport England

YOUNGSTERS across the country are flocking in numbers to play table tennis, according to a survey conducted by Sport England.

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The on-going Active People survey, involving more than 350,000 interviews demonstrates that table tennis was the only one of the 31 funded sports to significantly increase in terms of young people, aged 16 and upwards, taking part.

The survey provides a measure of how successfully each sport is contributing to getting 1 million more people active in sport by 2012 - major part of the legacy on which the bid for London 2012 was based upon.

"These results confirm that the programmes we have put in place with Sport England are making a significant impact on our sport through the community," said English Table Tennis Association chairman Alex Murdoch.

"Table tennis is however one of the Sports which did not receive the full funding for its Elite programme leading up to the London Games.

"Although the activity survey is about grass roots participation and not elite performance, it is hoped that this achievement may influence the reviews due to take place on the performance progress of Olympic Sports.

"If the sport was given full funding to help develop and support its Olympic and potential Olympic athletes en route to 2012 success, then this could invoke an even larger boost in participation figures as the nation looks to emulate its top athletes."