Evolving in the 1880's from lawn tennis, table tennis originally appears to have been played on the dining room or parlour room table

From there you can see how it evolved :-

1901
The short-lived Ping Pong Association is founded

1901
Table tennis Association formed on Dec 12

1904
Table tennis Association breaks up

1922
Table tennis Association reconstituted in England

1926
Federation Internationale de Tennis de Table formed in Berlin

1926
First World Championships held in London

1930s
Table tennis dominated by Hungarian players

1950s
Asian countries begin their domination of the sport

1971
First Commonwealth table tennis championships held in Singapore

1988
Table tennis first appeared in the Olympic programme in the 1988 games in Seoul