Who should serve/receive first in the beginning of every game/set in table tennis?

Question

Who should serve/receive first in the beginning of every game/set in table tennis?

Answer 1

How to Determine the Serve in Table Tennis

Before you start a game you need to decide who will serve first. Pinging for serve just won't cut it for one of the newest Olympic sports! The sooner you learn the real rules, the faster you will be enjoying the real game.

Here's How:

1. There are a couple of common ways to decide who serves first in competition. The official way is for the umpire to flip a coin and have one of the players call heads or tails while it is in the air.

2. When there is no umpire (or coin) have one player hide the ball under the table in one of their hands. Make sure the arms are spread out far enough so there is no chance for a quick switch!

3. The second way is to play the game Paper, Rock and Scissors. An open hand is paper, a fist is a rock and two fingers are scissors. Rock beats scissors, paper beats rock and scissors beats paper.

4. Now hopefully someone has won the serve. Actually, what they have won is the choice. They have four options. But they can only choose one.

5. They can choose to serve first.

6. They can choose to receive first.

7. They can choose the side of the table they want to start on.

8. Or they can make their opponent choose first and then take a separate choice.

9. Don't forget to shakes hands before the match, it's what the Pros do to show good sportsmanship!

Tips:

1. Take the serve first if you like to start strong and want to build a lead. Make sure you are warmed up well before the match so your serve isn't broken right off the bat.

2. Don't save your best serves for the end of the match. Use them early and often to build a lead.

3. Check the lighting on both side of the table before the coin toss to see if one side is better than the other.

Answer 2

You play a rally and whoever wins the rally serves, you swap at the end of every game:P Thats it really, this continues until somebody wins :D

Answer 3

If its the first game then usually it is decided by volleying for serve.

You hit it back and forth 3 times and who ever wins after that condition is satisfied gets first serve.

After the first game it is usually played that the loser gets first serve.