Ball Color

Greg Carroll Asked 12 years ago

Why do all professional tournaments use white balls, when most people at my club and others I have been to prefer orange, and almost everyone I speak to agrees that orange balls are easier to see.

Alois Rosario Answered 12 years ago

Hi Greg,

This has been a changing scene in Table Tennis. Internationally they changed to Orange because they felt it was more colourful and easier to see on television. However now opinions have changed again and they feel that the white ball is better to see.

It would be interesting to hear other readers feelings about the colour of the ball.

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TJ Kilcullen Posted 12 years ago

for me, orange seems easier to see when playing. But on TV, the ball is just a long blur that bounces back and forth, so both are basically just as easy to see. Unfortunately, I am just a recreational player, thus far, so I don't have tons of experience on the different types of balls. To a trained eye, one of the colors might be better. What do you prefer, Alois?

Alois Rosario from PingSkills Posted 12 years ago

Now I prefer white but I think it is just what you get used to as well. When they were using coloured balls in International competition I though that looked better too.

Cloud Cledera Posted 12 years ago

Well, this is actually a matter of playability in the match.

Orange Balls are used when players whose shirt/uniform are very light especially if they are white.

White Balls are used when players whose shirt/uniform are of very dark shades especially if they wear black.

Nowadays, tournaments use white balls because the effect of it in the tournament lights and most players actually play with darker uniforms. Though, not all notice and observe anymore the color uniform because they are more focused on the ball. It is very rare nowadays to see orange balls used, because they are mostly for training and multiball feed.