The game of table tennis is played on a hard table that is divided into two equal halves where each player attempts to score by hitting a ball towards the other side of the court with a small racket such that the opponent is unable to deliver the ball back to the player’s court. Thus, the sport tests player’s ability in delivering the ball in an intended direction within a small area and in defending the ball being delivered by an opponent.

Regulation lengths are as follows:

• The length of the table is 2.74 metres and a net is placed at the centre which divides it into two equal halves. The width of the table is 1.525 metres.
• The table should be placed horizontally 76 cm above the floor and the vertical sides of the tabletop are not included in the playing surface.  
• The net is 15.25 cm in height from the table and it is tied parallel to the width of the playing surface. 
• The playing surface should contain a white line of 2 cm in width across the playing surface i.e. on edges of the length and the breadth of the table. For a doubles game, each playing area is divided into two equal half-courts by a white centre line which is 3 mm in width, running parallel to the side lines. All lines form area of the playing surface.

Ball: The table tennis ball used for majority of the tournaments is white or orange in colour and is made of celluloid or similar plastics material. The ball specifications are as follows: 

• The diameter of the ball should be 40 mm with weight of 2.7 grams. 
• The ball is tested for bounce by dropping it from a height of 30 cm and the bounce should be 23 cm across the playing surface.

Racket: The table tennis racket can be of any size, shape or weight but the blade should be flat and rigid on both the sides. The racket should be designed in such a way that the playing characteristics are identical on both the faces. The major specifications are as follows: 

• At least 85% of the blade by thickness should be natural wood. An adhesive layer within the blade may be reinforced with fibrous material but it should not be thicker than 7.5% of the total thickness or 0.35 mm, whichever is smaller.
• A side of the blade used for striking the ball should be covered with either ordinary pimpled rubber (total thickness including adhesives not more than 2 mm) or sandwich rubber (total thickness including adhesives not more than 4 mm).   

Net: The net is fully extended such that it completely fills the space between the two posts and should be made of sufficiently small mesh to ensure that the ball cannot pass through it. The height of the net should be 15.25 cm from the playing surface and a band should cover the cord/metal cable at the top of the net.

A singles match comprises of two players while a doubles match comprises of four players without any substitution.

Before the start of the play, a toss is conducted and the side winning the toss has the right to choose between serving first or to start the play from the desired end.

A match consists of best of 3 of 5 games or more depending upon the level of competition. For each game, the first team to reach 11 points wins the game, however the game must be won by at least a two point difference over the opponent’s score. A point is scored after each ball is put into play.

The service shall be delivered in the following manner.

• Before the serve, the server should start with the ball resting freely on the open palm of the free hand.  
• To deliver a serve, the server should project the ball by hand upwards into the air (nearly vertical) without imparting spin such that it rises at least 16 cm after leaving the palm of the free hand.
• As the ball falls, the server should strike the ball such that it first touches his/her court and then directly touches the receiver’s court. For a doubles match, the ball should successively touch the right half court of the server and the receiver. 
• In case the ball hits the net on the first serve and falls in the opponent’s court, the server gets an additional chance to serve again.

Second Serve: In case the first serve is a fault then the player is allowed to serve again from the same court and same side half.

During a game, after each 2 points have been scored the serving player/team becomes a receiver and vice versa. In case both the players/teams have scored 10 points each, the sequence of serving & receiving remains the same but each player/team shall serve for 1 point only.

In a singles match, the server serves & the receiver makes a return and thereafter both make returns on alternate basis.

In a doubles match, the server serves and the receiver makes a return. After that the partner of the server makes a return & then the partner of the receiver makes a return and thereafter each player in that sequence shall make a return.

Singles
In a singles match, at the end of each game the server shall become the receiver and vice versa.

Doubles
In a doubles match, the pair having the right to serve first shall choose which of them will do so and the receiving side shall decide which of them would receive first. For the subsequent games of the match, the first receiver shall be the player who served him/her in the preceding game. Also, at each change of service the previous receiver shall become the server and the partner of the previous server shall become the receiver.

During a game, a short break (generally known as towelling down) is allowed after every 6 points and at the change of ends after each game. Apart from that, each team has a time-out available for up to 60 seconds in a match which can be taken only between rallies.

Ends are changed after every game. In case the match reaches deciding game then the players change ends when the leading player score reaches 5 points.

Service fault is called when a player makes an error while serving and loses point to the opposing team. This generally happens when an illegal serve (ball toss not higher than the mandated height) is served.

The designated match officials for the game of tennis are as follows:

• Referee
• Umpire
• Assistant Umpire /Score Counter