A Beginner’s Guide to Watching Table Tennis

​​By Amy Yang
​
This year, SAS Pudong is hosting the APAC Table Tennis tournament. Watching it may seem confusing and unexciting to outsiders. As a veteran of our school’s team, I will clarify the rules and procedures in a table tennis tournament in hopes of helping you enjoy watching the sport more.

The Basics

• A player wins a game by being the first to score 11 points (unless there is a tie).
• Each match consists of 3 or 5 games. A player wins the match if he or she wins 2 out of 3 games or 3 out of 5 games. 
• The most common way a player scores points is if his or her opponent fails to make the ball bounce back into the player’s side of the table. 
• Guys and girls compete separately.

How do teams work? 

• Schools play in teams of 3 in the team round. Our school has two male and two female teams. 
• When two teams go against each other, they play five matches. Four of them are singles and one of the matches is doubles. 
• Each player plays either two singles matches or one singles plus one doubles match. The rules are designed so the two singles matches are with different opponents. 
• Team championships are determined by how well each team play in the round robin. 

Doubles Round

• In round robin, each pair of players plays the two other pairs of players in their pod. 
• Partners must alternate in hitting the ball. If a player hits the ball twice in a row, the opposing team gets a point. This is why players tend to move around so much in doubles—to get out of their partner’s way. Coordination is crucial.
• The best doubles players are promoted to semi-finals and finals. 

Singles Round

• Each player has a seed number, which approximately indicates his or her ability within the team. 
• In round robin, each player plays each of the five other players in his or her pod. 
• The finals are pretty intense! 

The schedule and other information of the tournament can be found here. 

Have fun watching! 

If you have any corrections, please contact the author of this article.