Olympic table tennis players are fuming over 'very bad' balls

Table tennis players at the Rio Olympic Games have expressed their frustration with the low quality of the balls used in competition.

(Image credit: Rob Carr/Getty Images)

published 12 August 2016

The Olympic table tennis players are fed up. The white balls used in their matches are cracking, crumpling, and breaking. They don't bounce right. They're unpredictable. And they are slightly bigger than the balls used at the London Olympics, meaning they spin less — and less spin gives power hitters an unfair advantage over players that rely on spin.

"I think this ball is very bad," Li Ping of Qatar said after losing a match, although don't call him a sore loser; his opponent, Dimitrij Ovtcharov of Germany, agreed. The ball "makes it almost impossible to compete," he said.

Every adjustment made to the official table tennis balls used in international matches requires players to recalibrate their muscle memory in order to stay competitive, The New York Times reports. The Olympics are currently using balls provided by D.H.S., a Chinese company that became the official supplier after 2012; the general manager of D.H.S. said the company is "quite satisfied" with the new ball.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Explore More

Jeva Lange was the executive editor at TheWeek.com. She formerly served as The Week's deputy editor and culture critic. She is also a contributor to Screen Slate, and her writing has appeared in The New York Daily News, The Awl, Vice, and Gothamist, among other publications. Jeva lives in New York City. Follow her on Twitter.

Subscribe to The Week

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox