The Original Sport

I don't know everything about this and what I think I know may not be correct, but I'll try to tell about it.  

Years ago at the company where I teach, the employees invented or created this sport called Panpang (I don't know about the spelling, this is how it sounds to me). They call it an original sport.  Over the years it became very popular and there came to be competitions between teams at each location of the company, then the winners at each location played each other.  The game is something like a mixture of tennis and ping pong I think.  It is played with a rubber ball and a wood paddle (made by the participants). There is a low hurdle that is like a net for other sports.  The floor is taped and the service area is a very narrow lane in the middle. The teams play singles, doubles, and mixed doubles.  One person stands in the middle and keeps score with his fingers.

So, Friday after work was the first round of the competition at this location.  Two of my students are on their department's team.  Over the last few weeks they have been telling me which departments have the strongest teams and why (they practice a lot or they have people on their teams who are ping pong experts, etc.)  I have been very interested in this and decided to go and watch.  I think there were 10 or 12 teams competing. The finals of the tournament will be this next weekend and the top two teams from this location will go to Tokyo to play the winning teams from the other locations of this company.  My pictures are poor - it is a fast moving game and I wasn't using a flash, but maybe you can get the idea. The event began with a little ceremony or pep talk, then on with the games!