I have been playing ping-pong for a little while now, but I had a question on an aspect of game-play.
My brother and I were playing a game and he had just returned the ball over the net to my side of the table. The ball was airborne above my side of the table but had not touched as of yet.Upon seeing this I hit the ball with my paddle so that it touched my side of the table first, before bouncing over the net and touching his side. My question is is this play legal? The ball only hit my side of the table once, albeit I was the one who hit it and not my opponent.
Thanks,
Daniel
It's an interesting idea, but what you did was not legal under the rules of table tennis, as listed below.
2.7 The Return
2.7.1 The ball, having been served or returned, shall be struck so that it passes over or around the net assembly and touches the opponent's court, either directly or after touching the net assembly.
2.5.8 A player obstructs the ball if he, or anything he wears or carries, touches it in play when it is above or travelling towards the playing surface, not having touched his court since last being struck by his opponent.
So as you can see from the rules above, once you hit the ball, it must touch your opponent's court directly (or after hitting the net), not after hitting your side of the table. When you hit the ball on the full above your side of the table, you lose the point due to obstructing the ball. If the ball has gone over your side of the table, you win the point.
Regards,
Greg
