Table Tennis Rules - Changing Rackets
Rules
Peter Unknown Asked 16 years ago
Hi Alois,
in our league we have a long pimple player with 5 different bats, which everyone has different rubbers. If you play against him he takes a bat for the warm up and than without saying any word, changes his bat for the match. Is this rouleconform?
And if it is allowed to change the bat after the warm up, have I to do the warm up with him or is it possible to insist on starting the match without the warm up?
Best regards
Peter, Germany
Alois Rosario Answered 16 years ago
Hi Peter,
I had a look at the rules. This is the rule about changing rackets:
A racket shall not be replaced during an individual match unless it is accidentally damaged so badly that it cannot be used; if this happens the damaged racket shall be replaced immediately by another which the player has brought with him to the playing area or one which is handed to him in the playing area.
Hope this clears it up.
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Ji-Soo Woo Posted 16 years ago
Of course the key word in the rule is "accidentally". From my understanding, if you deliberately break your racquet (like smashing it in frustration) you forfeit the match.
But just further to the original question, is the warm up counted as part of the match? Is it permissible to warm up with one racquet and then change when the actual match starts? I don't know how the rules would apply, but personally it seems to me to be tantamount to cheating since during practice you are also getting a feel for the opponent's rubber.
Charles Unknown Posted 16 years ago
I think its legal.
A racket shall not be replaced during an individual match unless it is accidentally damaged so badly that it cannot be used; if this happens the damaged racket shall be replaced immediately by another which the player has brought with him to the playing area or one which is handed to him in the playing area.
A warm up isn't a match.
I think he does this so during the match, you don't know what kind of rubber he's gonna use.
Peter Unknown Posted 16 years ago
But I don't know if this is International Standard.