Ping Pong Rules

Ping pong or table tennis, as they are interchangeably called, is a game in which either 2 players or 4 players stand across a table divided by a net. They hit a high-bouncing gas-filled celluloid ball, with a diameter of 40 mm and a weight of 2.7 gram, with rubber coated wooden rackets, back and forth across the table.

The ball can bounce only once on the player’s side before it is returned to bounce back to the opponent on the other side. If a player misses in doing this, the opponent gets a point. The first player to score 11 points is the winner of the game. The serve is alternated every 2 points. If the players are both level at 10-all, the service is alternated every point, until one player gets a clear 2-point advantage over the opponent.

The match is usually either a best of 5 games or a best of 7 games. Best of 5 games format is used in preliminaries and best of 7 games format is followed in championship matches.

When a player serves, the ball must bounce once on the side of the serving player and then cross the net and bounce once on the other side, before it is returned. If the ball hits the net and falls back to the server’s side, the opponent gets a point. If the ball hits the net and falls on the other side, it is known as a ‘let’ and the service is repeated again, without any point to both the players. However, in rallies, if the ball hits the net and falls on the opponent’s side and the opponent is unable to return it, the opponent loses a point.

After each game, the players switch sides of the table. However, in the final game, whether it is the fifth or the seventh, the players switch sides again when one player scores 5 points first.

In doubles matches, a line is drawn across the length of the table, dividing the table into 4 boxes. The server should serve from one corner box to the diagonally opposite corner box and when the service is returned, the partner of the server should play the ball, which will be countered by the partner of the player who returned the service. The players should continue to alternate like this till a point is won or lost. The doubles team can consist of 2 men, 2 women or a man and a woman. The first one is called men’s doubles, the second women’s doubles and the third mixed doubles.

The 11-point game format was introduced by the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) in 2001. Prior to that, the game was a 21-point format. The 11-point game format was made mandatory by the ITTF to make the matches more fast-paced, exciting and enjoyable for the growing number of television viewers. The ITTF also increased the size of the ball from 38 mm diameter to 40 mm diameter, so that the tremendous speed at which players played the matches slowed down for the television viewers to follow the matches more clearly. Further, the ITTF also prevented a player from hiding the ball while serving, so that there will be no service advantage and longer rallies will take place.

Table tennis is played on a table of 9 feet in length, 5 feet in width and 2.5 feet in height, divided at the middle by a net of 6 inches height. The playing arena should not be less than 46 feet in length, 23 feet in width and 16 feet in height for competitions, as per the rules of the ITTF. The ITTF also banned rackets without rubber coating on them, which are known as ‘naked’ rackets.