Enjoying this drama between HY and Odo (via her coach Sakamoto).
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HY: I honestly couldn't see the ball clearly. Without those (allegedly illegal) serves, I feel like it would have been more of a fight.
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Sakomoto (key bits I am able to understand): The point about being able to challenge using TTR indefinitely if successful is absurd (めちゃくちゃ).
I protested against the validity of HY's challenge during the second game because she had already returned the ball. Even though the umpire ultimately declared the challenge a failure, she did not award Odo the point and instead got them to replay the point again. When I explained the rule to the umpire, she replied "I don't know".
HY challenged during the third game, this time without returning the serve which is fair. The umpire went on to fault Odo even though the the service contact point was visible. This is in line with the official rules, although the umpire disagreed and said that the ball should be visible at all time from toss to contact. This new rule makes no sense as it's impossible for the table tennis balls to be tossed near vertically due to their light weight.
We have no choice but to practise serving using our BHs out of fear of being faulted for FH serves.
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