In table tennis, the most important rules are serving rules, and playing rules. All of the rallies start with a serve, so knowing a legal serve is crucial. Understanding some example of illegal serves will also help.
Beside the official table tennis rules, new players should learn the “etiquette rule” in table tennis. Etiquette rules are the unofficial rules that guide you to behave correctly in this sport.
Table tennis serve (or service) is very important. Based on Liu Guoliang’s advice, it takes more than 50% of exchange rallies in table tennis. Liu Guoliang once said that “Serving is the most important stroke in table tennis”.
Serve is easy to make but difficult to master. That’s the reason that you should always improve your from the fundamental skills to the advanced level.
Many amateur players ask “what is the serving rules in ping pong?”. Well, the rule is very simple. First, you must do a legal serve. Based on the rule of ITTF, a legal service has these criteria:
Second, after each point, we must change the server. You serve the first 2 points, and then your opponent serves the next two points. At 10-10, each player serves only 1 point.
[caption id="attachment_1310" align="aligncenter" width="435"]
Score in a ping pong match: 21 (Old system) and 11 (Nowadays)[/caption]
[caption id="attachment_1650" align="aligncenter" width="608"]
In history, table tennis set ends with 21 points. Today table tennis score is 11 points system.[/caption]
Some players think that table tennis has its origin in China. No, it’s not correct. So I need to explain to you the origin of our sport – table tennis. Note that, table tennis and ping pong are not the same sport nowadays. Table tennis started in England, but not in China Table tennis began …
We already know the Ghost serve of Ma Lin. But today, we don’t talk about the amazing backspin serve of Ma Lin. We focus on the very short underspin serve on the table. What is comeback serve? The come-back serve is even shorter than the ghost serve. Both of them are the ace serve. Comeback …
Today, let’s analyze the serve of Xu Chenhao. Closed training of China Team before Tokyo Olympics Just after the Chinese Trial (Second Leg), the China National Team has arrived in Weihai today (Monday 31 May 2021). A new phase of closed training is about to begin. Closed training is very important. This is the final …
Can we play table tennis with both hands? A player asked me, “Dear coach, can we play table tennis with both hands? Is it legal to use both free arm and racket arm to hit the ball ?” Answer: Yes. You can hold the paddle with both hands while in play in an ITTF sanctioned …
Playing table tennis with both hands – Good or Bad? Read More »
Table Tennis Olympics is the most prestigious tournament (Games of the XXXII Olympiad, Tokyo 2021). Therefore, there are some specific rules that you should know. Unlike the normal tournament, there are some different rules than the basic rules in table tennis. Qualification Rules There are limit of participants allowed in Olympic Games table tennis. Here …
Special Rules of Table Tennis in Olympics Tokyo 2021 Read More »
Welcome back to PingSunday, the best place to learn table tennis. Today, let’s discuss the hand signals for doubles in table tennis. Is it the same for everyone? Is there any convention, a universal signal used by the pro players? And which one should you use? A player from Jakarta, Indonesia: “Dear coach, I’m new …
In the previous article “Why Yoshimura Serve is so effective?”, there are many opposing opinions. Some said Yoshimura serve is legal. Other players don’t agree. Today we talk about the “Upside-down service” of Yoshimura. Is it really effective? And is this service really illegal? If you don’t know the serving rule, I recommend you read …
In table tennis, there are 8 umpire hand gestures that you need to know. Why? Why do you need to learn the umpire gestures? Because the role of the umpire is not to talk to you. The umpire is not there to explain to you the rule. They don’t talk much, but just only give …
What is the role of an umpire and referee in table tennis? The umpire shall be responsible for many things, but here is the main responsibility of an umpire. The main role of table tennis umpire Based on the ITTF handbook, a table tennis umpire is mandatory in table tennis. There are currently 2381 official …
In football, the score of 0 is called as “Nil”. For example, when England wins France 2-0, it’s called “Two-nil”, but not “Two-Love”. But in table tennis, or in other racquet games (like tennis), the score is called “Love”. Why? The Origin of “Love” in table tennis Firstly, I want to explain to you another …