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Table Tennis/ Ping-Pong Basic Strokes - Forehand Push Return of Serve

By Greg Letts, About.com

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Ready Position

Photo of Forehand Push Return of Serve - Ready Position

Ready Position

© 2007 Greg Letts, licensed to About.com, Inc.
In this tutorial, we will be looking at how to perform a forehand push return of serve in table tennis/ping-pong. The push is an generally a defensive return used by the receiver to prevent the server from making a strong third ball attack.

View the Forehand Push Video - 720x576 pixels Version. (3.7MB)
640x480 pixels Version (2MB)

View the Forehand Push From the Middle of the Court Video - 720x576 pixels Version. (4.5MB)
640x480 pixels Version (2.1MB)

Points to look for:

  • The player is in his basic ready position, waiting for the server to contact the ball. He is hoping for a long serve that he can attack with a loop, but is also ready to move in case his opponent serves a short serve.
  • The player is in a wide stance, with the left foot slightly in front of the right (i.e. a forehand stance). His bat is held above and behind the playing surface, and is in a neutral position (pointing about a foot to the right of the ball, so the player can play a forehand or backhand with ease).
  • His opponent is serving from towards the middle of the table, so the player is standing a little further towards the middle of the table. Since the player has a longer reach on his forehand side, that will also make the player stand a little to the left of the center of the line of play.

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