The street project, entitled Ping! and putting 100 tables around the capital, has been made by non-profit organisation Sing London in association with ETTA (English Table Tennis Association), funded by Sport England and sponsored by Yahoo!

“Table tennis has wide appeal, and I hope thousands of people will take benefit of these outdoor tables,” said Sport England’s Chief Executive Jennie Price.

London mayor Boris Johnson is helping to promote the campaign after claiming at Beijing 2008 that ping pong was invented in Victorian Britain, originally known as ‘whiff whaff’. ‘The French looked at a dining table and saw an chance to have dinner,’ he mentioned in the time.

‘We looked at a dining table and saw an possibility to play whiff-whaff.’

The launch, at London’s St Pancras International where trains arrive from Paris and Brussels, will feature both the UK Olympic team and ex globe champion Jean-Philippe Gatien as well as Parkour, a “ping popping dance” and a “ping pong song.”

Ping! will also appear in other London landmarks such as Trafalgar Square, Westfield shopping centre, Regent’s Park, the Tate Britain and Heathrow’s Terminal 3.

Ping pong fever will also be aimed at different areas of the public, with a “Literary Ping Pong Quiz” in the British Library and surreal ping pong inside the Barbican arts centre.

Three thousands dining room table tennis bats have been bought for Ping!, which is planned to last four weeks before moving on to four other cities and then returning to London in 2012.

“Ping pong is really a game that may be inclusive, withstands age barriers and cultural divides and makes men and women smile,” said Colette Hiller, Sing London’s creative director.