The project, called Ping!, will see 100 tables at venues such as Westfield Shopping Centre and Tate Britain as the organisers seek to get one million more people playing sport by 2012.

Sing London is organising the event, with support from the National Lottery and Sport England’s Innovation Fund and the English Table Tennis Association (ETTA).

If successful, the project will expand to four more cities.

As well as free-play, each ping-pong table will feature a programme of masterclasses, competitions and free-to-join activities.

"It is fantastic for table tennis to be at the forefront of further cutting-edge interventions to increase sustainable mass participation," said ETTA chief executive Richard Yule. "We recognise there is a growing and significant demand for informal opportunities to play table tennis that is outside of the scope of our traditional club and league structure."

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