can you put your left leg beside the sideline when you serve?

[blahness]

This is with regards to the ITTF rules.

Basically my serve now has my left leg just beside the sideline (it's not past the endline though), but I do hit the ball past the endline, not over-the-table. Is that serve legal?

 

[Steven]

As far as I know it's allowed. I did it before as well.

 

[T!Christian]

Yes it is allowed!
The ball and your bat have to be behind the line

 

[xu xin lover]

yes of course
someone at my club puts his whole body beside the sideline
he can see what his opponent sees if you know what i mean, but his ball and hand with his racket is not over the table and not past the endline so your serve is defenitly legal

 

[T!Christian]

The only thing is to toss the ball 15-16 cm high and upwards, and that the ball is to be seen by your opponent at any time of your serve! you can't hide the ball but for example are allowed to hide your bat for a moment (switching rubbers i.e.)

 

[Der_Echte]

blahness, I KNOW you coulda/should read ITTF rules Paragraph 2.6 about serve saying what everyone said...

Maybe you were trying to catch someone giving wrong advice and let the hammer down...

 

[XIII]

blahness, I KNOW you coulda/should read ITTF rules Paragraph 2.6 about serve saying what everyone said...

Maybe you were trying to catch someone giving wrong advice and let the hammer down...

But seriously who will read all the rules? Most of us won't even be in an ITTF rule tournament.
After saying that, It seems you have just did what I said no one will do...

 

[T!Christian]

But seriously who will read all the rules? Most of us won't even be in an ITTF rule tournament.
After saying that, It seems you have just did what I said no one will do...

I'm curious, what did u say noone will do?

 

[Der_Echte]

Many National Associations, including USA have adopted teh ITTF rules pretty much wholsale intact. It pays to know the rules of our sport to protect oneself from being taken advantage of by others.

 

[strangeloop]

Yeah.. It's not quite the same game if you don't play by the rules.

On a lighter note, unless you know the laws, how can you bend 'em? ;-)

 

[XIII]

I'm curious, what did u say noone will do?

Read all the ITTF rules of Table tennis.

Many National Associations, including USA have adopted teh ITTF rules pretty much wholsale intact. It pays to know the rules of our sport to protect oneself from being taken advantage of by others.

LOL true.
But here many players don't really look at each others rackets to check for signs of boosting or speed glue, so basically they just want to play.

 

[dici]

If playing at recreational level, and not the competition, it seldom people will care about it. Not even the serving rule lol... because everyone just want to have some fun instead of being too serious. Although I know some people would take it very seriously.

But at the competition level, even at primary school level, we used to check each other paddle, and following those rule.

 

[jmillsy2]

the ball is the sole important part of the serve.
throw it up 16cm, near vertical, and it must be behind the endline when you make contact with it.
also dont hide it,
where your body is is totally irrelevant (as long as youre not like, lying on the table ) provided you dont hide the ball

 

[T!Christian]

You are also not allowed to put your other hand (the one not holding the bat) on the table, neverin the game

 

[ttunreal]

I do that too; basically half my body is against the sideline of the table but my serve is still behind the endline and the serve throw has to be above 15-16cm, as someone said, and I cbb to quote them LOL

 

[XIII]

the ball is the sole important part of the serve.
throw it up 16cm, near vertical, and it must be behind the endline when you make contact with it.
also dont hide it,
where your body is is totally irrelevant (as long as youre not like, lying on the table ) provided you dont hide the ball

Isn't it 10 cm or something?
Oh well, checking ITTF rules time.

 

[T!Christian]

It isn't

 

[Belisar]

Back to the original question... it is the ball that is the important factor. When struck it has to be behind the end service line. The body can be anywhere.

I had a junior I coached once who stood around the side of the table to serve but the ball was behind the end line. At a tournament I asked an International Umpire if this was ok as I had been asked about it before (the player was not there but as it was an IU I thought to check). Before long every umpire involved in the event and a number of coaches/players were all gathered around a table discussing it. Was a very bizarre experience as it held the whole event up for 15 minutes and the player was not even there.

Consensus was it was the ball not the player that was the key element in the rules.

 

[XIII]

Basically, you can stand anywhere but you have to serve behind the service line.
You can pass the service line after you have contacted the ball behind the service line.

 

[T!Christian]

Funny how the question got answered 7 times (twice from one member) in 5 days .. i think he got it