Basketball.

The world's greatest sport ever. But of course, it hasn't been around since the world began. No, somebody had to have invented it. And that somebody would be James Naismith.

Born in Almonte, Ontario, Canada, this Canadian Gym Teacher and Physician would soon be the founder of basketball. It all started in December of 1891. Naismith was teaching in Springfield, Massachusetts and was asked by Luther H. Gulick, the Headmaster of the school for Christian Works to make a new sport. The main idea of the sport was mainly to be played inside when it was too cold to go outside. The new sport also had to keep athletes in their top conditions between the baseball and football season. Naismith began to work. The first game-ball was a soccer ball.

The first baskets were peach baskets that Naismith cleverly thought of hanging on the wall. From there, the legacy of basketball began. Originally, there was 9 men to each team, but the objective was still the same; to pass the ball to other players on your team and put the ball in the opposing team's net, or basket back then. From there, basketball caught on like a wildfire.

During 1885 highschools and colleges began to adopt the game, and by 1898, the first Pro. League was founded. After the first game played, Naismith drafted 13 rules and regulations, but many more were yet to come. The hoops we know today were invented in 1906. They were steel, with a net hanging from its rim.

籃球被譽為世界上最偉大的運動之一。籃球的發明者是James Naismith。1891年，James Naismith在馬塞諸塞當體育老師的時候，校長讓他為基督教想出一種運動，這種運動一定要在室內進行，運動員在比賽時還要有棒球和足球比賽時的激情。經過思考，他想出了一個辦法：在墻上掛網子，然后把球扔向這個用網子做的籃子里，籃球運動由此而生。最初，參加籃球比賽的每個隊伍有9個隊員，比賽規則是：球員把球傳給本隊隊員，然后將球投向對方的筐子里。直到1898年，第一支專業籃球隊成立。


Table Tennis

Like many other sports, table tennis began as a mild social diversion. Descending, along with lawn tennis and badminton, from the ancient medieval game of tennis. It was popular in England in the second half of the nineteenth century under its present name and various trade names such as Gossima and Whiff-Whaff. After the name Ping-Pong (an imitation of the sound made by the ball striking the table and the vellum bats that were used) was introduced by J. Jaques & Son, the game became a fashionable craze.

The game was popular in Central Europe in 1905-10, and even before this is a modified version had been introduced to Japan, where it later spread to China and Korea. After a period when it had dropped out of favor in Europe, the game was revived in England and Wales in the early twenties. By that time 'Ping-Pong' had been registered as a trademark, so the earlier name of table tennis was re-introduced. National associations were formed and standardization of the rules began, both in Europe and the Far East. Then, over the next sixty years, table tennis developed into a major worldwide sport, played by perhaps thirty million competitive players and by uncountable millions who play less seriously. However, the game itself has not changed in essence since its earliest days, though it is faster, more subtle and more demanding than it was even only twenty years ago.

乒乓球、網球和羽毛球都是由網球演變而來的。19世紀初期，乒乓球運動在中歐很受歡迎，后來其運動方式稍加修改，傳入日本，后來又傳到了中國和韓國。乒乓球曾經一度銷聲匿跡，到了19世紀20年代早期，它又在英格蘭和威爾士重獲新生。那時很多國家的乒乓球協會成立，在歐洲和遠東，乒乓球的比賽規則也被設立。其后的60年間，乒乓球發展成為一項世界著名的運動。

Badminton
As to the beginning of badminton, there are a lot of stories. One saying that it started in Japan, the other says that it started from India. But one thing is for sure, which is that badminton was started in the U.K., in about 1800, which was developed from tennis. You may discover that there are a lot of similarities between the two. In the year of 1870, a sort of ball made of feather and wood as well as a bat woven with strings were invented. Ever since 1873, the sport of badminton become more and more prosperous, when the field was a gourd like, with two wider spaces at both ends and a narrow stretch of land in the middle where a net was set up. This gourd-like field was changed to a square shape in 1901.

In 1893, the first badminton committee was established, which was then the British Badminton Association, holding a championship competition in 1899 nation wide. In 1934, an international badminton association was founded with its headquarter in London. The members are Canada, Denmark, Britain, France, Ireland, Holland, New Zealand, Scotland and Wales. Ever from then on, there have been more and more badminton competitions. Especially popular in Asia and Europe today, badminton became a full competition sport at the Olympic Games in 1992.

關于羽毛球的起源，有很多種說法，一種說法認為羽毛球起源于日本，另一種說法它起源于印度。可以確定的是，現代羽毛球運動于1800年左右誕生于英國，由網球變化而來。1870年，用羽毛、軟木做的球和穿弦的球拍出現。從1873年起，羽毛球運動逐漸繁榮起來.1893年，世界上最早的羽毛球協會在英國成立。1934年，加拿大、丹麥、英國、法國、愛爾蘭、荷蘭、新西蘭、蘇格蘭和威爾士等國發起了國際羽毛球聯合會，國際性的羽毛球比賽日漸增多。1992年，羽毛球被列為奧運會正式比賽項目。