page_title: Table tennis
section_title: Racket/paddle
hierarchical_section_title: Table tennis / Equipment / Racket/paddle
caption_attribution_description: English: Manika Batra at 2019 Commonwealth Table Tennis championships Deutsch: Manika Batra bei der 2019 Commonwealth Table Tennis championship
context_page_description: Table tennis, also known as ping-pong and whiff-whaff, is a sport in which two or four players hit a lightweight ball, also known as the ping-pong ball, back and forth across a table using small rackets. The game takes place on a hard table divided by a net. Except for the initial serve, the rules are generally as follows: players must allow a ball played toward them to bounce one time on their side of the table, and must return it so that it bounces on the opposite side at least once. A point is scored when a player fails to return the ball within the rules. Play is fast and demands quick reactions. Spinning the ball alters its trajectory and limits an opponent's options, giving the hitter a great advantage.
  Table tennis is governed by the worldwide organization International Table Tennis Federation, founded in 1926. ITTF currently includes 226 member associations. The table tennis official rules are specified in the ITTF handbook. Table tennis has been an Olympic sport since 1988, with several event categories. From 1988 until 2004, these were men's singles, women's singles, men's doubles and women's doubles. Since 2008, a team event has been played instead of the doubles.
context_section_description: Players are equipped with a laminated wooden racket covered with rubber on one or two sides depending on the grip of the player. The ITTF uses the term "racket", though "bat" is common in Britain, and "paddle" in the U.S. and Canada.
  The wooden portion of the racket, often referred to as the "blade", commonly features anywhere between one and seven plies of wood, though cork, glass fiber, carbon fiber, aluminum fiber, and Kevlar are sometimes used. According to the ITTF regulations, at least 85% of the blade by thickness shall be of natural wood. Common wood types include balsa, limba, and cypress or "hinoki", which is popular in Japan. The average size of the blade is about 17 centimetres (6.7 in) long and 15 centimetres (5.9 in) wide, although the official restrictions only focus on the flatness and rigidity of the blade itself, these dimensions are optimal for most play styles.
  Table tennis regulations allow different rubber surfaces on each side of the racket. Various types of surfaces provide various levels of spin or speed, and in some cases they nullify spin. For example, a player may have a rubber that provides much spin on one side of their racket, and one that provides no spin on the other. By flipping the racket in play, different types of returns are possible. To help a player distinguish between the rubber used by his opposing player, international rules specify that one side must be red while the other side must be black. The player has the right to inspect their opponent's racket before a match to see the type of rubber used and what colour it is. Despite high speed play and rapid exchanges, a player can see clearly what side of the racket was used to hit the ball. Current rules state that, unless damaged in play, the racket cannot be exchanged for another racket at any time during a match.
caption: India's Manika Batra hits the ball. She specialises in playing long-pimples on her backhand, a rubber which is not often played by top players.[28]
exif: {"Image Make": "NIKON CORPORATION", "Image Model": "NIKON D850", "Image XResolution": "300", "Image YResolution": "300", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Adobe Photoshop Lightroom Classic 8.2 (Macintosh)", "Image DateTime": "2019:07:19 13:09:10", "Image Artist": "SABYASACHI", "Image Copyright": "@SABIYO", "Image ExifOffset": "270", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "1062", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "22708", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/1000", "EXIF FNumber": "14/5", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Manual", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "1600", "EXIF SensitivityType": "Recommended Exposure Index", "EXIF RecommendedExposureIndex": "1600", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0230", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2019:07:19 10:40:10", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2019:07:19 10:40:10", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "1245723/125000", "EXIF ApertureValue": "1485427/500000", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "14/3", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "3", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF LightSource": "Unknown", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire", "EXIF FocalLength": "80", "EXIF SubSecTimeOriginal": "65", "EXIF SubSecTimeDigitized": "65", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF FocalPlaneXResolution": "75409805/32768", "EXIF FocalPlaneYResolution": "75409805/32768", "EXIF FocalPlaneResolutionUnit": "3", "EXIF SensingMethod": "One-chip color area", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF SceneType": "Directly Photographed", "EXIF CVAPattern": "[2, 0, 2, 0, 0, 1, 1, 2]", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Manual Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF FocalLengthIn35mmFilm": "80", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF GainControl": "Low gain up", "EXIF Contrast": "Normal", "EXIF Saturation": "Normal", "EXIF Sharpness": "Normal", "EXIF SubjectDistanceRange": "0", "EXIF BodySerialNumber": "8608969", "EXIF LensSpecification": "[80, 200, 14/5, 14/5]", "EXIF LensModel": "80.0-200.0 mm f/2.8"}