AboutAbe Mantell Expertise Hello, I have been playing table tennis (NOT ping-pong! ;->) for
over 20 years. Began in college and trained by a USTTA (US Table
Tennis Association) certified coach. Played in tournaments at the
collegiate, local, and regional levels. Achieved a high rating of
1580 a few years...have not been that active as of late.
Experience Rules, equipment, techniques, and jargon.
Organizations Was a USTTA (now USATT) member for many years!
Expert: Abe Mantell Date: 7/10/2008 Subject: Table Tennis - setting up a tournament
Question I want to set up an office table tennis tournament (we have tow tables on the premises) and want to know the standard protocol for a tournament - how many games (2 out of 3, 3 out of 5, several sets of games?). Do we play single elimination, round robin, etc. Any guidance on "official" table tennis tournament setup would be appreciated. I expect 20-30 people to participate.
Answer Hello Phil,
Matches used to consist of games to 21 (win by 2), but now the pros
play 11 point games. So, instead of the best 2 out of 3 or 3 out
of 5 21-pt games, now it is typically 3 out of 5 or 4 out of 7 11-pt
games.
People not familiar with this may not like the idea of 11-pt games, so
as the director of the event, you can establish any format you want.
The format will also depend on how much time you wish to devote to
the event. Do you want to start and finish in the same day? Is it
going to be over a weekend, etc.? If the goal is to just see who is
best, then a single-elimination format will do and is the quickest.
If you also want to foster "fun" and make it somewhat social, then
you'd want it to last longer and not have 1/2 the people get knocked
out the first round. If so, then a double-elimination system would
be good, so that everyone will get to play at least 2 matches.
Round-robin takes a long time...with "only" 20 people, you'd need to
have 100 matches! That is not practical for so many ppl. Perhaps if
you can have a single- or double-elimination format to narrow down the
field to the top 4 ppl, then there would only need to be 6 matches for
them...it all depends on the time-frame you have in mind.
It is always best to try and seed the players, so two strong players
do not have to face each other too early.
For rules and other details, check the USA Table Tennis webpage:
www.usatt.org - various rules can be found here: http://www.usatt.org/major/rules.shtml
If you have more details regarding time-frame, the people involved
(as to their level and experience), I may be able to offer more advice.
