OOAK Table Tennis Forum

Is hitting the ball with the handle of the blade illegal?
I was playing some pick up games (non tournament matches) at my local tennis table club. The person I was against had really spinny serves but his serves were all hidden by his body so i couldn't see the contact & watching the flight curve of the ball is just to hard sometimes. I lost the first 2/5 games & on the 3rd game I started returning his serves with the butt of handle which sometimes contacted the meaty portion of my palm but it was never a double hit or intentional.

At first my opponent laughed & thought i looked foolish doing it but when he lost the next 2 games he got upset & wouldn't play the fifth game and said I couldn't do that in a regulated match and he wont play me if I continue to do the illegal move. I told him its just a friendly game and if he wants to play by official rules then serve right, with that said we didn't go to a fifth game.

In the ittf rules, no where does it say that I can't use the handle of the bat to return the ball. Their is a rule that says that you can't intentionally double hit the ball & a rule that states that if the ball hits any part of the body above the wrist its a point lost, for me the ball touched my palm/pinky occasionally but mostly made contact with the wood & was never a double hit.

Would I be flagged by a umpire in a tournament for this? Is what I'm doing just an unspoken rule or tabu?

No. It’s fine.

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Chasse Patate