From Decktennis to Tenniquoits . . .
In the early years of the last century a game called Decktennis (Deck Tennis) has been played at the sports deck of big ocean liners. At that time Decktennis has been played with a ring made of rope. This game is the origin of the now international competitive sport Tenniquoits, which is also known as Ringtennis (Ring Tennis) or Tennikoit (Tenni-Koit). Below you see a photo from 1924, where Decktennis is played on an American ocean cruiser.Probably created from British or American sportsmen Decktennis came around the world through enthusiastic tourists, commonwealth officials and emigrants. Moreover soldiers, playing on board of military ships and in soldier camps may have arranged for bringing this sport to different parts of the world. At that time and the following decades (1930 – 1960) Decktennis was discovered at schools and universities in UK, USA and Australia and has been classified as valuable for physical education of children concerning hand-eye-coordination.
Only in a few countries Decktennis developed into the competitive sport Tenniquoits with yearly national championships. This was the case in Germany (1929), South Africa (1960) and India (1960). Under the leadership of these countries the World Tenniquoits Federation has been founded in 2004 to control and spread Tenniquoits to more nations around the world as competitive sport. The Tenni-Koit Federation of India conducted the first World Championships in 2006 with participating players from Germany, South Africa, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Brazil and India.
