Table Tennis
Table Tennis Study Guide
History
- The origins of table tennis/ping pong date back to the late 1880’s where people in England wanted to play an indoor version of tennis.
-Table tennis has been an Olympic Sport since 1988
Scoring/Gameplay
- Each game is played to a score of 11 points using rally scoring and you must win by two points
- To score a point, you must keep the ball in play longer than your opponent.
- You must serve cross-court
- Each player gets two serves each (after two serves the ball goes over to the other team)
A player loses a point if he:
• Fails to make a good serve (i.e. throwing the ball in the air and failing to hit the ball or failing to hit it onto his opponent's side of the table)
• Allows the ball to bounce twice on his side of the table
• Does not hit the ball after it has bounced on his side of the table
• Does not hit the ball onto his opponent's side of the table
• Hits the ball before it has bounced (i.e. volleying the ball) unless it's obviously not going to bounce on his side of the table
• Hits the ball twice in succession (i.e. a double hit)
• Puts his non-playing hand on the table or net or moves the table
• Obstructs the ball with any part of his body or clothing (unless it's obviously not going to bounce on his side of the table)
• Hits the ball out of turn when playing doubles
