OOAK Table Tennis Forum

The only relevant rules I can see are

However, no rule seems to say that a player's got to have no more than one racket hand.

Although... does the wording "is the hand carrying the racket" imply that there's only one hand ("the hand") that carries a racket? English grammar question.

The laws mention "the racket" in singular many times, which may be taken to imply that there should be only one for each player. Not conclusive, though.

You could say that alternating between rackets is the same as changing which racket is in play. This makes it difficult to comply with rule 2.4.8:
At the start of a match and whenever he changes his racket during a match a player shall show his opponent and the umpire the racket he is about to use and shall allow them to examine it.
Still, not conclusive.

You would have trouble serving legally. Two racket hands means zero free hands, unless you have an unusual anatomy.
2.6.1 Service shall start with the ball resting freely on the open palm of the server's stationary free hand.

So, you would probably be playing borderline, in more ways than one

A player playing with 2 rackets could hold both in the same hand while serving.

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Panda Drive / 4H Xiom Sigma Pro 2 2.0 / BH Xiom Omega IV Elite Max / Play right-handed
XVT balsa carbon 10mm / 4H Xiom Sigma Pro 2 2.0 / BH Globe 979 Long Pips OX / Play Left-handed shakehand
Stiga Def Wood / 4H Xiom Sigma Pro 2 2.0 / BH GD CC LP OX .. Play Left-handed
Cpen SOS Wood / 4H 729 802-40 2.0 / BH GD Talon use righthanded shakehand grip
HARDBAT / Shakehand Hock 3 ply / Friendship Dr Evil OX .. Play Right-handed

Or put one of the rackets on the table. It isn't forbidden to put a racket on the table, is it?

One guy aspiring to be a high level umpire, said there is something in the equipment section referring to not using 2 paddles. I couldn't find anything but I might have missed it.

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Panda Drive / 4H Xiom Sigma Pro 2 2.0 / BH Xiom Omega IV Elite Max / Play right-handed
XVT balsa carbon 10mm / 4H Xiom Sigma Pro 2 2.0 / BH Globe 979 Long Pips OX / Play Left-handed shakehand
Stiga Def Wood / 4H Xiom Sigma Pro 2 2.0 / BH GD CC LP OX .. Play Left-handed
Cpen SOS Wood / 4H 729 802-40 2.0 / BH GD Talon use righthanded shakehand grip
HARDBAT / Shakehand Hock 3 ply / Friendship Dr Evil OX .. Play Right-handed

Or I guess you could use one racket when serving and two when receiving... Still even more borderline.

That Egyptian guy with no arms, who plays in the Paralympics with the bat between his teeth throws the ball up into the air with his foot when he serves.

Iskandar

There is no rule stating you can't have a paddle in each hand but when you hit the ball with the 2nd paddle then the rule applies that you cannot change paddles during a match therefore you are defaulted.

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Panda Drive / 4H Xiom Sigma Pro 2 2.0 / BH Xiom Omega IV Elite Max / Play right-handed
XVT balsa carbon 10mm / 4H Xiom Sigma Pro 2 2.0 / BH Globe 979 Long Pips OX / Play Left-handed shakehand
Stiga Def Wood / 4H Xiom Sigma Pro 2 2.0 / BH GD CC LP OX .. Play Left-handed
Cpen SOS Wood / 4H 729 802-40 2.0 / BH GD Talon use righthanded shakehand grip
HARDBAT / Shakehand Hock 3 ply / Friendship Dr Evil OX .. Play Right-handed

I suspect there is, at least implied......


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Timo Boll ALC ST
FH Tibhar Evolution MX-P Max
BH Tibhar Evolution FX-S 1.8
185g

Many years ago we had a thread that discussed/argued the topic of the legality of using two bats at once. All the rule points raised here were discussed at much greater length. In the end the consensus was you could not abide all the rules of a free hand, showing opponent and umpire the bat at each change etc by having two bats in play at once.

As for the switch, I know a few players who do an occasional switch during play...which can be quite effective and disturbing to the opponent. I think you need to be close to equal competence with both hands to do it though as a weak shot with the wrong hand will get punished.

I had a muck around left v left game with my teammate after competition last week (normally both righties). It was fun but competence was low. I'd actually never really tried pips with my left before. When I was young I had a half decent left hand game with 2x inverted because my mates and I practiced it at times. I don't know if I could redevelop this in my 50s now with lower learning capability. But maybe. If it is by necessity then it becomes more feasible IMO. Certainly worth a try. Good luck with the robotting Nathanso.

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I'm always in the dark, but the Dark sheds lights upon everything!! Beauty is only pimple deep! Beauty is in the eye of the pipholder!
S/U 1: Blade: Bty Gergely . FH Black Andro Rasant 2.1 . BH Red Tibhar Grass Dtecs
S/U 2: Blade: Bty Gergely . FH Black Hexer+ 2.1 . BH Red GD Talon
S/U 3: Blade: Bty Gergely . No rubbers...thinking of adding Red Dtecs and Black Rasant
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I have a friend who injured his right elbow some time ago, so he decided to play left handed for a season in a lower grade. We were surprised how well he did... although he did not have the skills that he had with his right hand, the strategy and pressure component of competition was still there, so this always seemed to give him an edge when he needed it.

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OOAK Table Tennis Shop | Re-Impact Blades | Butterfly Table Tennis bats
Setup1: Re-Impact Smart, Viper OX, Victas VS 401 Setup2: Re-Impact Barath, Dtecs OX, TSP Triple Spin Chop 1.0mm Setup3: Re-Impact Dark Knight, Hellfire OX, 999 Turbo
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My diagnosis: Coracoid fracture (Type 2) with a 4mm avulsion gap; a rare injury indeed. Two veteran Bay Area orthopedic surgeons that I've recently had exams with have little to no experience with this condition. EDIT: Correcting my earlier post from Type 1 to Type 2, which refers to fractures at either the base (Type 1) or the tip (Type 2) of the coracoid. Recommended treatment for Type 2 fractures is "conservative" which means no surgery; R&R for a couple of months; reassess thereafter. I'm continuing to train my left arm, just in case..

4mm sounds like an awfully big gap, if that's what the fracture is referring to!

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OOAK Table Tennis Shop | Re-Impact Blades | Butterfly Table Tennis bats
Setup1: Re-Impact Smart, Viper OX, Victas VS 401 Setup2: Re-Impact Barath, Dtecs OX, TSP Triple Spin Chop 1.0mm Setup3: Re-Impact Dark Knight, Hellfire OX, 999 Turbo
Recent Articles: Butterfly Tenergy Alternatives | Tenergy Rubbers Compared | Re-Impact User Guide

Pongfinity also can play with both hands (start at 1:48).

Just finished my fifth 30-minute robot training session left-handed. I'm getting more consistent with the very basic FH drive stroke, but simple things like maintaining proper body angle for aiming the ball are still difficult to gauge. BH stroke -- the difficult OX LP drive stroke, that is -- remains elusive with the lack of appropriate muscle development and proprioception painfully obvious. I played my first match left handed, against a US1900 player who was also playing other-handed, and lost 4-1. The match made obvious that transitioning from FH to BH will need specific practice! As will service.

As en epilogue, switching to lefty never worked for me. While I saw some early gains and could eventually do basic FH rallies with an opponent, I was still miles from being able to play even the most basic point left-handed. My avulsed right coracoid is purportedly something that some people live with long term, so I'm attempting that for a while; an ugly shoulder surgery with 6-months of rehab being the alternative. In the mean time, I'm back to playing righty.