Many table tennis players dislike playing on unusual flooring such as carpet, carpet tiles, or concrete. But which of these surfaces are actually illegal for competitive play?
3.01.02.01 Except as provided in 3.1.2.2, the Laws (Chapter 2) shall apply to World, Continental and Olympic title competitions, open tournaments and, unless otherwise agreed by the participating Associations, to international matches.
3.02.03.08 The flooring shall not be light-coloured, brightly reflecting or slippery and its surface shall not be of brick, ceramics, concrete or stone; in World and Olympic title competitions the flooring shall be of wood or of a brand and type of rollable synthetic material authorised by the ITTF.
3.01.02.04 Where an open tournament does not comply with any of these regulations the nature and extent of the variation shall be specified in the entry form; completion and submission of an entry form shall be regarded as signifying acceptance of the conditions of the competition, including such variations.
So what does this mean? Basically that for closed tournaments, the organizers are pretty much free to play the competition on whatever surface is available. For international competitions, wood or certain synthetic surfaces (such as Taraflex) are the only acceptable surfaces. It is also interesting to note that open tournaments are supposed to abide by the Regulations for International Competitions, so they should alse be using wood or acceptable synthetic flooring. Although I should point out that there is the allowance for open tournaments to specify in their entry form that their flooring does not comply with the regulations.
Bottom line - unless you are an international competitor, you had better be adaptable, since you could legitimately be playing on almost any flooring type.
