Can the Ball Hit the Net Twice in Table Tennis? Rules Explained
A net touch means something completely different depending on whether it happens during a serve or an ordinary rally shot.
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Are Rubber Cleaners Legal in Table Tennis? What’s Allowed
Rubber cleaners are legal products, but the rules restrict what can touch the rubber once an actual match has started.
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Lin Gaoyuan: World Number 2, Zero Singles Medals at Worlds
A career-high world number 2 ranking, three World Championship team golds, and a singles-medal gap that closely parallels Xu Xin’s record from a different generation.
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Liang Jingkun: Four World Bronze Medals, Never Gold or Silver
Four World Championships singles bronzes across three Olympic cycles, a 2022 suspension for an on-court celebration, and a career that recovered fully afterward.
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Liu Shiwen: Five World Cups, Then an Elbow Surgery Comeback
Two reigns at world number one, a 2019 World Championship singles title, and a genuine comeback from a career-threatening injury.
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Xu Xin: Ten World Championship Golds, Zero in Singles
A rare left-handed penhold grip, ten World Championship golds, and the one specific gap in an otherwise complete legacy.
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Wang Manyu: Her Two Biggest Titles Both Beat the Same Teammate
World number 2, two Olympic team golds, a continental sweep — and a résumé that still reads as one of several inside her own Chinese team. The first women’s profile in this batch.
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Mattias Falck: World Number 7, Then a 107-Place Fall
Born Karlsson, competed as Falck through his career peak, and reverted after a divorce. The honest decline story in this batch, told alongside the 2019 World Championship final.
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Truls Moregard: He Beat the World Number One at the Olympics
The Paris 2024 bracket that connects four players covered on this site, told from the side that beat the world number one.
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Hugo Calderano: The First South American to Reach a World Final
Twice one match from the top: an Olympic bronze match loss to Felix Lebrun and a World Championship final loss to Wang Chuqin. Both losses, both historic runs.
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Alexis Lebrun: Ranked 1,050th, Then He Beat the World Number One
From outside the world’s top 1,000 to beating a reigning world number one in fifteen months. Also Felix Lebrun’s brother and doubles partner, but that’s not the whole story.
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Felix Lebrun: The Youngest Olympic Table Tennis Medalist Ever
A rare reverse penhold backhand, a home Olympics, and a bronze medal match against Hugo Calderano that ended a 32-year French drought.
