Table tennis and other indoor sports experiencing huge surge in interest during shutdown

Britons are taking up games like pool and esports after being forced indoors

File photo of a table tennis match ahead of the 2018 Commonwealth Games. Getty Images

Sales of table tennis and pool tables are reportedly soaring in Britain as more people seek to find new ways to defy the sporting shutdown.

Here are sports which are enjoying an unprecedented surge in interest.

Table Tennis

Press Association reported that table tennis tables are becoming the latest focus for panic-buying, with retailers reporting hundreds of sales in one week alone. Table tennis also remains one of very few global sports still standing, with matches continuing to take place as scheduled this week in the Moscow Elite Pro League.

Pool

Pool is gaining in popularity with the annual Mosconi Cup now a TV staple, and a continued push for the sport to be accepted into the Olympics. The latest suggestion is a combined cue sports team event consisting of representatives from nine-ball pool, snooker and billiards.

_________________

Clubs introduce pay cuts

Lionel Messi and his Barcelona teammates have agreed to take a pay cut as have Barcelona's basketball first team. AFP

Juventus announced that all first-team players and manager Maurizio Sarri would take a one-third pay cut for the next four months. EPA

Atletico Madrid confirmed that the first team and staff would be taking pay cuts to help the club continue to pay other workers during the lockdown. AFP

Espanyol announced pay cuts for sporting staff, including the men's and women's first team, reserve teams and Under-19s. EPA

Borussia Monchengladbach players have taken a wage cut after the players offered to forgo wages to help other workers at the club. "The team has offered to forgo salary if it can help the club and the employees," the club's managing director Stephan Schippers said. EPA

Borussia Dortmund confirmed that the first team will "waive part of their salaries", the club announced. AP Photo

Bayern Munich announced that the first team football squad would take a 20 per cent pay cut. Getty Images

Union Berlin announced that their first team squad would go entirely without wages, although there was no timescale for how long. Reuters

_________________

Darts

Darts is another sport that is keeping people busy. The sport has come up with a pandemic-busting prospect which entails former world champions Phil Taylor and Raymond van Barneveld facing each other on an electronic dartboard, which means neither will need to leave the comfort of their own homes.

E-sports

E-sports have been affected by the lockdown, with a number of major conventions and competitions being cancelled, or switched to purely online events. But major streaming platforms have reported a huge surge of interest, with League of Legends Championship commissioner Chris Greeley telling the Los Angeles Times: "We feel like we're weathering the storm pretty well."