Puzzling Pingpong

Russian rewrite men of history seem determined to prove that all the world's gadgets and games were born somewhere back of the steppes, but they have yet to bother with table tennis. They are in no hurry to claim the sport that some effete Westerners still call pingpong--as long as some Iron Curtain country manages to beat the West at its own game. Ever since the end of World War II, Hungary, Rumania and Czechoslovakia have managed to do just that. Only the English and some agile little Japanese have seriously challenged Red domination of the bouncing celluloid ball.

Last week, in the ancient Dutch city of Utrecht, Russian observers watched teams from 28 countries play for the world table-tennis championships. The smiling, rubber-legged Japanese turned up with sponge-rubber-faced rackets (which take the ping out of pingpong), old-fashioned penholder grips, and a persistent will to attack. Youthful (20) Toshiaki Tanaka took the men's singles final. Japan also took the team title.

Though Iron Curtain men took a licking, their women won all the titles. But when the tournament was over, the kibitzing Russians got a puzzling glimpse of wild-Western sportsmanship: table-tennis officials decided to give the prized Umpires' Cup to Elizabeth Thorssen, a 2O-year-old Swedish blonde. Her citation: prettiest girl in the tournament.

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