Xu Xin illegal Serve in Detail

[Mr. RicharD]

I've said this before, but this angle of shooting the sport is terrible for detail oriented study. The reason is because telephoto lenses greatly affect distance and skew it tremendously. So perspective and depth are really hard to judge what could be 30 degrees could actually be 45-60 degree angles and what could be 4 feet could actually be 10 feet. So you can see where I'm coming from. Xu Xin imo doesn't have an illegal service because for a lefty or righty as long as they are towards the middle or right side of the table they will see the ball clearly.

And to those of you who think it's unfair for him to serve this way you have to understand that everything he does to a righty player can be done to him. It is COMPLETELY fair for him to serve this way because it adds to the deceptiveness of the serve. He has no more advantage than a righty player because every angle he has a righty would also have.

Also the rule is for the ball only. If he covers the swing of his paddle that is legal; he need only show the ball at all times which I would say is easily seen from the perspective of the opponent.

And for those of you who want to argue about righty's being disadvantaged there is only one thing disadvantaged for a righty and that is that you will have less lefty's to play against and practice against, but either than that there is no more advantage for them in a game than you because you equally have the same angles and tactics that they have. And I've said it many times when standing at the ready against a lefty service stand closer to the middle of the table to allow yourself room to grab the wide forehand service and also to see the paddle swing easier. If you stand toward the left it will be much harder to see the swing and you may be one of those people who complain that the service is illegal when in fact it is technically legal you just didn't see the swing on the ball and that made you misguess the service.

I seriously write novels in this forum, but I hope it gets my points across :S

 

[patrick123456]

The camera did not get the ball's image but the opponent can see it........the camera is just too far

 

[sugengz]

Xuxin have advantage as Lefty players... as well as disadvantage when receiving serve from Right-handed player...

 

[pingpongnz]

Its Illegal I believe. Great thread!

 

[dragonjohn55]

People complain about Ma Lin's serve all the time, and yet Dan at least from his personal experience said it was completely visible. but we have him a chance to adjust

 

[NTclub]

Xu Xin is legal. ITTF guide book defines that "nearly vertical" is within 45 degree to a vertical line.
This site explains why Xu Xin is legal in detail.
The communication board of NT club
http://sports.geocities.jp/nttabletennisuclub/topics.html

 

[TTFan01]

Sure you can't see the ball when he hits it, but you can't blame one person when almost everyone in the world hides they're serve

 

[zachkinjo]

Everyone always moves it bit, I guess it's up to the umpire really

 

[xu xin lover]

i say legal but i think michael maze his serve is illegal
watch at it very good

 

[Aussieron50]

You can also see Ma Long trying to bend around to view around Xu Xui's body

I agree I think because Xu Xin is a left handed and Ma Long is standing where a right handed person should be standing makes it difficult to see but Timo Boll is another left hander and is in position to see the serve correctly , its also unusual the way he faces away from the table to start his serve .

 

[trevo1]

thanks for posting

 

[iLov4X]

when his blade touch the ball his body didnt hide the ball...

 

[Coach Paul]

From the point of view of the one taking the video it looks definitely illegal.Xu xin is left handed so at some point the serve will be hidden from view if it is taken on the extreme left hand side. But the fact remains that his opponents are as professional as he is that they could easily call the umpires attention if they feel like being cheated but they did not.

 

[Mr. RicharD]

No professional player returning service is going to stand to the extreme left or right against an opposite handed player because that gives the server an advantage. The most common stance is somewhere around the 3/4 table mark and it's always best to make sure you can see the service.

While the rule stands that it should be to the point of view of the player it's very often only the point of view of the umpire/assistant umpire that matters. As we've seen at London Umpires are starting to really grab a hold of illegal serves, but for the most part I saw some pretty bad calls because they view the clause referring to a service being satisfactory to the umpire over the rest of the rule. Most of these umpires in my opinion must have some pretty bad depth perception because they clearly don't understand the rule by definition and its intentions.

However I do believe more umpires need to be strict about these service calls and they should be equal about their calls. If both players are serving illegally then fault or warn both. I'm tired of seeing some umpires fault certain players, but hold a blind eye to others for some reason.

 

[stix4bruce]

if the umpires think its legal then so be it

think its ok

 

[Arne]

Illegal, body is obstructing view on the ball

 

[XIII]

What a shame! My favorite player in Table Tennis has served illegally?

 

[SpinQuark]

I say it is illegal because the ball is being hidden. There is no justification for serving this way except to attempt to hide the ball. I rather think Ma Long's serve is better and not hidden and he is supposed to be one of the best servers in the world. Perhaps we can see some video of his serve on this thread.

I also think ITTF have a problem with the rules here. There is no umpire in a suitable position to judge or determine whether the ball is hidden from the receiver at the point of contact. The only person in a position to tell is the receiver. However the receiver has no rights to challenge the serve. I also think the server will not always notice if only the occasional serve is fully hidden.

 

[HLDang]

Only reason I say it is still a legal serve is that we are not in Ma Long or Timo Boll's position. Pretty sure if it was illegal, they would point it out... All about point of view is all I can say.

 

[alexand312z]

I think it's normal and legal serve