PING pong players were forced to ditch their bats in place of frying pans, cook books and other strange objects in order to hit the ball yesterday.

Competitors were challenged to play using anything except bats at the 'Ping Pong Parlour' in Oxford, as part of a city-wide celebration of the sport.

Players were encouraged to ditch bats in favour of more imaginative objects, at Wahoo and the Glee Club in Hythe Bridge Street.

Margaret Stevens, who organised the event, said: "It's just really to try to get people to enjoy being active. Ping pong is quite a sociable game, you can play with different generations and a different range of people. You don't have to be especially fit or organise a team.

"It was the first time we had done the bat-less game, it was really to emphasise the social and fun aspect of playing the sport. We wanted to try something a bit different and grab people's imagination to play something they wouldn't normally play."

The game was part of a host of events put on by Oxford City Council as part of its fourth Ping! Oxford festival, funded by Sports England.

Events began on June 19 and run until August, with the next tables due to be set up at Leys Festival and Horticultural Show in Blackbird Leys on July 2.

Ping pong tables can be played on freely in 14 spots across the city, which are stocked with bats and balls.

For a list of locations visit pingengland.co.uk/oxford.