Explained: What is racket control in Table Tennis?

Amit Singh, India's first table tennis racket controller, explains what the process is all about.

Update: 2025-01-30 03:30 GMT
Explained: What is racket control in Table Tennis?
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Cooped up in a small room, just beside the playing hall of the 86th Senior National Table Tennis Championships at the Pandit Dindayal Upadhyay Stadium in Surat, Amit Singh is frequented by visitors – officials and media alike.

The senior nationals is just the second time that the Table Tennis Federation of India has introduced racket control in a tournament. The first was at the 86th Junior and Youth National Championships in Vadodara earlier in the month.

Singh has been a table tennis umpire for more than a decade. He achieved the blue badge – the highest level of umpire certification by the International Table Tennis Federation in 2017.

But over the last six months, Singh has started to don a new hat.

Singh was invited by the ITTF for a camp during the 2024 Asian Table Tennis Championships in Astana, Kazakhstan last October. Following an intense eight-day training session, he was certified as a “racket controller” – the first of its kind in India.

What is a racket controller?

As the name suggests, a racket controller is an official, who controls the types of rackets being used in a competition. Someone who checks the paddle for legalities and ensures that it abides by all the regulations and no player has an unfair advantage or a competitive edge over the other due to the equipment they use.

Racket control has been an important aspect of the sport for years. However, Singh’s recent certification has piqued interest in the subject within the Indian table tennis fraternity.

“We first examine it [the racket] visually,” Singh tells The Bridge, sitting in the room with his equipment laid on a table, eager to share his newly acquired knowledge. “Then we head towards the machines.”

The visual inspection includes checking the ply manufacturer and the rubber. It is then crosschecked with the List of Authorised Rubbers by the ITTF. If the name of the manufacturer doesn’t appear in the list, the racket cannot be used to play.

The specifics next 

There are three machines – a VOC or mini ray, a flatness device, and a thickness device. Then there’s a loop, which is put to use rarely.

The first step in the process after visual inspection is the volatile organic compound or VOC machine, which detects harmful gases in the rubber used in the racket.

The machine is pressed for 20 seconds on both sides of the racket – the coloured side first – to get a reading.

“This is because players use different types of glues in the racket to increase the speed,” explained Singh. “The acceptable level here is 3.3 and if the reading [on the machine] exceeds that, the racket is considered illegal.”

Singh calls out all the details loudly, which another official by his side notes down for documentation.

Once the VOC is checked, comes the time to check the racket for flatness. It is mandatory for a racket to be flat.

If the surface of a racket on both sides is not equal or flat, it may bring in variations to the shots played. This puts the opponent at a huge disadvantage as they can’t predict how the ball will behave on return.

“There are two types of flatness – concave and convex,” Singh explained. “For concave flatness, the measurement limit is negative at -0.50, and in convex, it is at +0.20.”

Flatness is measured diagonally two ways on both sides of the racket. Once this is cleared, the process moves to thickness.

Thickness, meanwhile, is checked from four different angles on both sides of the racket. An average of all four measurements gives the value of thickness for each side.

“For thickness, the limit with sponge is less than 4.10 and without sponge it is less than 2.10,” shared Singh.

Thickness, too, helps in increasing the pace imparted on the ball.

The thickness, flatness machines, and the loop used for table tennis racket control (Photo credit: Abhijit Nair/ The Bridge)


If Singh suspects the thickness to be too low, he once again checks the racket with the loop.

“At times the players act smart and use glue to press the layer in and if we suspect that’s the case after observing with the loop, we dismantle the racket and check it again,” he chuckled.

Singh, though, is quick to point out that he holds no control over the outcome if a racket is found to be illegal according to the set parameters.

“Racket control cannot call any racket illegal,” he said. “Our job is to check it and inform the details to the referee, who decides what action should be taken.

“Sometimes the player is given a second or third chance before being disqualified – it all depends on the referee,” he added.

The players competing do have the option to get their rackets checked voluntarily before a match. If it doesn’t happen, Singh goes about marking the tables of the players, who are set to play and need to have their rackets checked.

The match umpire takes a note and takes the rackets to him alone, where the necessary tests are conducted. If it is found illegal, the referee is involved.

When a racket is found illegal just before a match, the player is required to play with a different racket. If the player wins and even the other racket is found not adhering to the standards, the result is declared null and void.

It takes Singh about three and a half minutes to check a racket. He claims to have checked over 150 rackets daily at both the Junior and Youth Nationals, and the Senior Nationals and found illegal rackets at both events.

“We’ve been making players, who don’t know the regulations, understand it and that is not to say there are players no players doing it intentionally,” he said.

“We found illegal rackets here too. We informed the players and got them changed,” Singh added.

The core aim of racket control is fair play and with Singh’s certification, the TTFI has pounced on the opportunity to level the domestic playing field.

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