Unlikely use of the rules
Rules
Andrew T Asked 13 years ago
It is my understanding that if you hit the ball in the air before it bounces while it is over the playing surface of the table it is your opponent's point. I have also seen shots that start from outside the table and end up coming back to the table (sidespin generally). If someone were to hit the ball while it is going towards the table, but is still not over the surface, whose point is that? I can imagine someone trying to hit the ball before it comes back to the table to get the point.
I understand this would be really unlikely, as most of the time one would be on the wrong side of the table to attempt this, but I thought it was worth asking.
Thanks,
Andrew T
Alois Rosario Answered 13 years ago
Hi Andrew,
The rule actually says "if the ball passes over his court or beyond his end line without touching his court..."
So if the ball hasn't yet gone over the playing surface then it would be the opponents point.
Hope this clears it up for you.
Thoughts on this question
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Jeff Plumb from PingSkills Posted 13 years ago
It is quite a good rule really. It means that if the ball still has a chance of going on the table you can't hit the ball on the full. But once it has passed the end line of the table the point is over and it doesn't matter if you hit the ball on the full or not.
Before this rule, you used to lose the point if you hit the ball on the full even if it had passed the end line and was never going to touch the table.
I once was a very lucky player under the old rules. I was down 20-19 and hit my shot long, however it went pretty fast and hit my opponents bat on the full so I was awarded the point. Under the current rules I would have lost the match. I went on to win the next 2 points and the match!