OOAK Table Tennis Forum

Q - For a legal serve the ball has to be thrown a minimum 16 cms in the air. But does that mean that the ball must also fall 16 cms before it can be hit?

My answer - No. The ball must be thrown up at least 16 cms and then once falling, the ball doesn’t need to fall 16 cms to be hit and can be hit any time after it has started to fall.

The ITTF official service rules:
“2.6.2 The server shall then project the ball near vertically upwards, without imparting spin, so that it rises at least 16cm after leaving the palm of the free hand and then falls without touching anything before being struck.”

The ITTF rules say 16 cms and up and then down. They do not mention what distance to travel when falling down. Hence the ball can be hit anytime when falling down.

Am I correct?

Thanks

You are correct that the ball has to have started falling after going up at least 16cm from where it was projected. It does not have to have fallen back to where it was projected from. 2.6.2 that you quote has the 16cm up but no limitation on how far it has to go down before striking.

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Retriever (sometimes golden, but often leaden)
Moderator, Inverted Retriever Technique sub-forum - http://ooakforum.com/viewforum.php?f=74

agree x2

Could this rule allow for a Tennis-style service ???

Crouch down like Ding Ning doing her reverse-Tomahawk serve ... toss the ball and hit it immediately


Im going to try this out with attempted Ma Lin Ghost Serve at head height

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Depends on which tennis like serve you are trying to emulate.

The one where it looks like the ball may still be on the way up when it is hit - no.

The one where it looks like the ball has stopped at the top of a short toss - no.

The one where it is thrown high and is clearly on the way down - yes.

As far as I am concerned (and I think the rules bear me out), a table tennis serve must strike the ball when it is clearly on the way down from the toss, not when the ball is seemingly motionless at the top of the toss.

Fun fact. Japan is trying to change the rules of the toss so that the ball must go over the server's head. For reference, see the propositions to the now deferred ITTF AGM 2020. Bring on the tennis serves!

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Retriever (sometimes golden, but often leaden)
Moderator, Inverted Retriever Technique sub-forum - http://ooakforum.com/viewforum.php?f=74

I can see some Japanese and Chinese "quick" serve players getting affected by above head height toss does it mean tall players will have problems? or short players can getaway with lower toss?

Sent from my Redmi Note 5 Pro using Tapatalk

_________________
__________________________________________________________
Backup C-pen blades:

• TSP Black Balsa 7.0 :
  1. FH/BH-YRakza9/XOmegaVT
  2. FH/BH-TSP Spectol/Yinhe Qing OX
• 729 Bomb C-P : FH/BH-DHS H2 Orig/DHS H3 Orig
• TSP Versal :
  1. FH/BH-XOmegaVA/YJupiter-II
  2. FH/BH-*blank*

Fun blades:

• Yasaka Battle Balsa(ST) : FH/BH- DHS TG2Neo/Gewo HypeXT 47
• Dr. Neubauer
  High Technology
  Cypress-Carbon(ST)
  ***************************** : FH/BH-YRakza7/YRakza7

==========================================================

man_iii wrote:
I can see some Japanese and Chinese "quick" serve players getting affected by above head height toss does it mean tall players will have problems? or short players can getaway with lower toss?

It depends on how much they can bend (the rule!)

_________________
Retriever (sometimes golden, but often leaden)
Moderator, Inverted Retriever Technique sub-forum - http://ooakforum.com/viewforum.php?f=74

I think it'd work if you serve 5 feet back from the table.

Iskandar