Hand or Finger Foul

Good advice AmekunRaiane! :)

My dear Stephan, true Alois was responding to your question but the site does welcome and has a provision for others to comment. And anyway I was not responding  to your question. What struck and amused me in Alois's explanation was the phrase ' intentional'. Intentionality is a tricky thing to determine. In our field of literary criticism and theory we abandoned the criterion of 'the intention of the poet' long ago. For the intention of the poet is neither available nor desirable. Similarly in sports, too, intention of the player is a complicated thing. But unlike in lit.crit in sports there are imperious umpires and it is they and not the players who decide the intentionality or otherwise of a stroke. Maybe after the injustice doled out to Ding Ning I have become too cautious and hence my comment that it is better to avoid getting hit on the fingers/knuckles for there is no knowing as to how the umpire will look at it.

I understand that Vijay, I was just commenting to avoid confusion for anyone else reading this thread of comments- intention does not come into play if the ball strikes the knuckles or fingers of your racket hand; I understand that you already know this but it wasn't for your benefit. 

As for the rest of your post, I was also quite surprised by the answer that intention is the deciding factor in whether or not a double hit is legal or illegal, for taking account the 'mens rea' of a participant in a sport is quite uncommon, normally rules are strict liability (if you'll excuse the legal references). For example, in tennis the rule is that a double hit is allowed provided it was part of the same swinging motion, thus discounting an umpire's ability to exercise discretion in the matter- his only judgment is whether the ball did indeed hit twice, and whether or not it was one swing. These are matters of fact, not matters of opinion (although that is not to say that an umpire cannot be incorrect in deciding matters of fact).

So yes it's rare that an umpire will impute intention onto a player, but in the case of this rule it's irrelevant, regardless of your feelings for the Ding Ning incident; if an umpire 'looks at' the ball hitting your knuckles and awards the point incorrectly, that's no different to him misunderstanding any other rule, and he won't last long as an umpire; it's a matter of fact, not a matter of judgment. Did the ball hit the knuckles of the racket hand? If so, it's legal. If the umpire makes a mistake in this case it's unfortunate but no different to him incorrectly ruling that a ball hit the side when it actually hit the edge.

It is difficult to determine what a players intention was. I prefer rules that don't rely on this. In Australian Rules Football, if a player kicks the ball out deliberately then it is a free kick to the opposition. Most of the time the umpires decide it was not intentional when the player kicks the ball out but every now and then they award a free kick and it is always a contentious decision.

It's much better to stick with facts in my opinion.

Precisely, Stefan and Jeff. Intention is a complicated matter and hence nobody should have arbitrary, discretionary powers to interpret. I was taking a purely theoretical stand because in Alois's explanation the clause 'as long as it is not intentional' appeared. As you say,Jeff, let's  all stick to facts, Sir! Stick to facts!

mr.vijay, i you found my comment about the 38 mm ball offensive, then i apologize. my entire comment was in jest and meant in light spirit. that said, i think it has pretty much been established as fact by one and all, that hitting the ball with the finger or knuckles is indeed allowed. all i meant by my comment is that i am aware that folks your age are used to the old rule, where it wasnt allowed, and that i have been made aware by cogniscenti myself so wat u r hearing from me will be no different to what they will tell you.

Hi Alois, if i'm blocking and the ball hit in my finger and the ball goes over the net, is still a good stroke???

Yes it is a good shot.  Anything up to your wrist is considered part of the bat.  Even if it hits your finger and then your rubber on the same shot it is OK.  This rules was changed recently so there may still be some confusion about it still.

Is wearing a glove allowed in TT while playing. Also can we shuffle the bat in other hand in between and hit the ball.(Possible with short balls)

Hi Ganesh,

You are allowed to wear a glove. I don't know what the rule would be if the ball hits the glove though?  My initial thought would be that it would not be allowed as the rule only talks about the hand up to the wrist.  This would leave it open to players putting other things onto the gloves.