The latest hip pastime of Hollywood: ‘nerdy’ table tennis

London, May 17: Dismissed after being dubbed “game of nerds”, table tennis has now officially become cool, thanks to its new army of fans – Hollywood A-listers.On Saturday, the latest hip New York table tennis venue will open its doors to an adoring star-studded following.

SPiN New York, an exclusive ping-pong parlour, will become favourite hang out for A-listers, including Ed Norton and Matthew Broderick, and actress Susan Sarandon, reports The Independent. Sarandon will also cut the ribbon at SPiN`s glitzy launch. At the moment, there are more than 2.4 million table tennis players in England, according to figures from Sport England. And the number of adults who play every week has risen by more than 20 per cent since 2006, going from 163,000 to 195,000. "Table tennis was looked at as being an old-fashioned sport, but we’re changing that now," says Alex Murdoch, chairman of the English Table Tennis Association. "We’ve become a lot more cool,” he added. ANI