Journal of Sports Sciences

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Evaluation of elite table tennis players' technique

effectiveness

Hui Zhang , Wei Liu , Jin-ju Hu & Rui-zhi Liu

To cite this article: Hui Zhang , Wei Liu , Jin-ju Hu & Rui-zhi Liu (2013) Evaluation of elite table
tennis players' technique effectiveness, Journal of Sports Sciences, 31:14, 1526-1534, DOI:
10.1080/02640414.2013.792948

To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.1080/02640414.2013.792948

Published online: 20 May 2013.

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Journal of Sports Sciences, 2013
Vol. 31, No. 14, 1526–1534, http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/02640414.2013.792948

Evaluation of elite table tennis players’ technique effectiveness

HUI ZHANG1, WEI LIU2, JIN-JU HU3, & RUI-ZHI LIU1

1
Shanghai University of Sport, China Table Tennis College, Qing Yuan Huan Road 650, Yangpu District, Shanghai,
200438 China, 2Shanghai University of Sport, School of Economics and Management, Shanghai, China, and 3Shanghai
University of Sport, School of Sport Journalism and Foreign Studies, Shanghai, China

(Accepted 22 March 2013)

Abstract
This study constructed a technique effectiveness evaluation formula for table tennis players based on the relationship
between the scoring rate and usage rate of techniques and established the evaluation criteria through the examination of 224
matches of the world’s top 35 players. It also built a competition performance formula with the score difference theory for
the exploration of the correlation between player technique effectiveness and competition performance. The results showed
the three indices – the technique effectiveness of the first and third strokes (TE1,3), the second and fourth strokes (TE2,4)
and the after fourth strokes (TE>4) – could help better evaluate the technique effectiveness of elite players. The comparative
analysis of Chinese elite table tennis players and players from other countries and regions revealed that Chinese players as a
whole were “excellent” in all the examined techniques except in the male’s “first and third strokes”; while players from other
countries and regions were overall “general”. The case analysis of two world top players further indicated that correlation
analysis of technique effectiveness and competition performance could help identify the technique indices highly correlated
with player competition performance.

Keywords: table tennis, technique effectiveness evaluation, competition performance

Introduction in the rally is considered as the “after fourth stroke.”

Table tennis technique/tactic analysis and technique
effectiveness evaluation are playing important roles
in elite player training and competitions. The former
is mainly concerned with players’ striking techni-
ques, the subsequent attributes (such as placement,
spinning, velocity, strength, curve, and so on) result-
ing from the striking, and the combinations of strik-
ing techniques and their attributes; while the latter is
mainly used to evaluate a player’s competitive cap-
ability through the scoring rate and usage rate of
techniques in competitions.
Understanding table tennis terminology is neces-
sary to further this discussion. A match begins with
the serve or the first stroke, followed by receive or the
second stroke, then the third stroke, and the fourth
stroke. And every stroke after that is grouped together
as the “after fourth strokes.” As players alternate
strokes, player A would be responsible for the serve
(or first) and third strokes, while player B would be
responsible for receive (or the second) and fourth
strokes. For the purpose of analysis, all strokes that
follow are considered as the rally, and the final stroke
After every two points have been scored, the receiving
player becomes the serving player. This continues
until the end of the game (11 points), unless both
players score 10 points, at which point each player
serves only one point until one player wins by two
points. There are only two possibilities for each rally:
either player A or player B scores. These rules apply
to both single and double matches.
More basic approaches of technique and tactic analysis
Research into areas of technique, tactic and techni-
que effectiveness of table tennis can be grouped into
two types. The first is the more basic analysis of
technique and tactic features of table tennis players,
which is based on artificial neural networks, data
mining, rough set theory and so on. Due to its rather
complicated analysis indices and computation meth-
ods, and also because of its relatively abstract pre-
sentations of results, the practical effect of this type
of research has not yet been fully demonstrated in
actual table tennis training.

Correspondence: Hui Zhang, Shanghai University of Sport, China Table Tennis College, Qing Yuan Huan Road 650, Yangpu District, Shanghai, 200438
China. E-mail: huizhang@sus.edu.cn

© 2013 Taylor & Francis

 Evaluation of TT players’ technique effectiveness
The artificial neural network-based analysis first
constructs an analysis model with a three layer
back-propagation network. Taking technique indices
as the input layer and according to the requirement
of game analysis, Wang and Zhang (2007) con-
structed a neural network model and set 10 nodes
in the input layer, while Xiao and Zhang (2008)
chose 15 nodes in the input layer in their model.
However, J. Wang (2010) combined the striking
techniques and striking placements, and set as
many as 54 nodes in the input layer in his model,
but set only one node in the output layer (match
winning probability). After making observations of
the effect of a certain technique or tactic on match
winning probability, this analysis gives weight to
each technique or tactic index. These above men-
tioned researches conducted simulation analysis on
table tennis matches, but they are unable to make
prediction on results of table tennis matches.
The data mining-based association analysis is
further classified into two types: forward association
analysis and backward association analysis. The for-
ward association analysis aims to identify features of
associations between the striking techniques or place-
ments of the first four strokes and scoring or losing.
The backward association analysis seeks to reveal the
features of associations between the scoring or losing
and the striking techniques or placements of the last
three strokes (Yu, Zhang, & Ling, 2008a, 2008b,
2009; Zhang, Yu, Liu, & Wang, 2008). From the
time perspective, table tennis matches are in fact the
sequences of techniques and tactics arranged in
chronological order. The sequential model mining
of table tennis techniques and tactics uses the large
itemset searching algorithm to compute techniques in
the large itemset and to put them at the first level of
major technique sequence. It then searches major
sequences at all levels, deletes the sub-sequences
from the major ones and finally obtains the technique
sequence model (Zhao, Yu, & Zhang, 2008). Meng
and Ling (2009, 2010) attempted to enhance the
effects of data mining on table tennis techniques and
tactics by using the improved ant colony algorithm
and artificial fish swarm algorithm.
The method based on rough set theory can also be
used to analyse players’ technique features by calculat-
ing the weight of table tennis technique and tactic
indices (Wang, Yu, & Zhang, 2009). Since data mining
is chronological in time and consistent in space, it is
highly likely to become one of the important methods in
future table tennis technique and tactic research.
More applied empirical approaches of technique and
tactic analysis
The second type of research is the more applied and
empirical analysis of techniques and tactics, such as
1527
the scoring and losing, percentage, average and stan-
dard deviation of serve, receive, third stroke, fourth
stroke, last stroke (after fourth stroke) in each rally.
Due to the simplicity of its indices and easy compre-
hensibility for players and coaches, elite players use
more of this type for analysis of technique and tactic
features.
Wu and Li (1989) proposed the “three phase eva-
luation theory” for the evaluation of technique
strength of table tennis players. This theory takes a
player’s last stroke in each rally as the observation
unit and classifies the scoring or losing in each rally
into three types: If a player scores or loses in serve or
the third stroke, it is defined as scoring or losing in
attack after serve (“first and third strokes”) phase; if
the player scores or loses in receive or the fourth
stroke, it is defined as scoring or losing in attack
after receive (“second and fourth strokes”) phase; if
the player scores or loses in the after fourth strokes, it
is defined as scoring or losing in the rally (“after
fourth strokes”) phase. Based on this data, an
empirical model was constructed for the evaluation
of technique strength with the scoring rate and tech-
nique usage rate as evaluation indices. Because this
technique strength evaluation method is simple,
direct and easy to understand, players may find it
easy to make comparisons among many matches of
their own as well as comparisons with matches of
other players (Li, 1997; Li & Li, 2008; Li & Wang,
1991). The “three phase evaluation theory” is highly
recognised among Chinese table tennis coaches and
players and has been frequently used by the Chinese
national table tennis team in their preparations for
the Olympic Games and World Championships (Li
& Wu, 1989; Li, Yang, & Zhao, 2004; Zhang, 2004;
Zhang, 2006).
The frequent rule changes in table tennis compe-
titions since 2000, including the replacement of the
38 mm balls with 40 mm balls, the change from a
21-point to 11-point scoring system in 2001, the
elimination of hidden services in 2002, and the use
of inorganic glue in 2008, have forced players to
constantly change their techniques and tactics (H.
Wang, 2010; Zang, 2002; Zhang & Wu, 2000). Li,
Shan, Li, and Sun (2009) examined the criteria of
table tennis technique strength evaluation and con-
cluded that the rule changes had basically no influ-
ence over the evaluation criteria of technique indices
in the “attack after serve” phase or the rally phase,
but did have some effect on the “attack after receive”
phase. They also found that penholder players and
shakehand players had different usage rates of the
“three phase technique strength evaluation”. But
they made no adjustment to the evaluation criteria
in their study. Li and Su (1998) referred to the basics
of the “three phase technique evaluation”, made
further refinements and constructed the 10 indices
1528 H. Zhang et al.
statistical evaluation method, which however, has
not been widely used.
However, few researches have been found so far
which study the relationship between the scoring rate
and usage rate of table tennis techniques. The present
research, therefore, aims to construct a new criterion
for the evaluation of technique effectiveness for table
tennis singles by combining the scoring rate and usage
rate of techniques, and to propose the idea of improv-
ing players’ technique effectiveness based on the ana-
lysis of the correlation between their technique
effectiveness and competition performance.
Methods
Match samples
In the present study, 121 matches of 22 male
players, and 123 matches of 21 female players were
randomly selected from the 2010–2012 world top 35
players (based on the world ranking in April 2012).
Among them, 71 men’s matches and 53 women’s
matches were from Chinese players, and the rest
were matches of players from other countries
(Germany, Japan, Singapore, Korea, Belarus,
Netherlands and Spain) and regions (Chinese
Hong Kong and Chinese Taipei).
The above matches used in this research are from
videos of television broadcast, internet and videos
taken by participating coaches and players. Twenty-
two of the matches are from China Central
Television (CCTV) relay, 29 of them are from
China Network Television (CNTV), and 193 of
them are videos taken by coaches and players.
Permission was obtained to use these videos for
this study.
Indices of technique effectiveness evaluation for table
tennis players
In the present research, table tennis players’ tech-
nique effectiveness is evaluated through three
indices: the technique effectiveness of the first
and third strokes (TE1,3), the second and fourth
strokes (TE2,4) and the after fourth strokes (TE>4).
There are five reasons for choosing these three
indices:
1. In table tennis matches, players from both sides
take turns to strike. When a player from one
side is taken as the observation subject, and if it
is his/her turn to serve first, then his/her striking
behaviour is classified as the first stroke, the
third stroke, the fifth stroke……; if it is his/her
turn to receive, his/her striking behaviour is
termed as the second stroke, the fourth stroke,
the sixth stroke, and so on.
2. Table tennis competition is undisputedly a
complicated sport full of changes (including
spin, placement, rhythm, strength, speed,
curve and so on), and most of these changes
occur in the first four strokes.
3. In table tennis matches, service (the first stroke)
is the player’s only stroke that is not restricted by
his opponent, so it has greater changes in spin-
ning, placement, rhythm and speed. It can not
only impose greater pressure on his opponent,
but also create favourable striking conditions for
his next stroke (the third stroke). Therefore,
combining players’ service (the first stroke) and
third stroke as an index (TE1,3) could better
evaluate players’ technique effectiveness in the
first three strokes.
4. It is just because the particular significance of
service and the third stroke that players’ scoring
competence of receive (the second stroke) and
the fourth stroke has become the second index
(TE2,4) for evaluation of technique effective-
ness. According to the latest research, the use
of the backhand twisted-pull technique (a new
technique used for striking back a net-front
short ball) in receive is motivating more and
more receiving players to use attacking skills.
By doing this, players may have a higher scor-
ing rate in receive and fourth stroke (Zhai, Li,
& Zhao, 2011).
5. Table tennis competition after the fourth stroke
becomes relatively simple. In most cases, it is a
matter of exchanging loops or attacks, when,
more often than not, players with better skills
are more likely to score. Therefore, the after
fourth strokes till the last stroke is taken as the
third index of technique effectiveness evalua-
tion (TE>4).
Competition observation unit and computation of scoring
rate and usage rate
In evaluations of player technique effectiveness with
the above mentioned three indices, the study took
the last stroke of one side’s player in each rally as the
observation unit: When the player scored, the oppo-
nent returned, either in failure or missing the ball;
when the player lost the point, it was taken as a failed
stroke (Table I).
Therefore, the scoring rate of a certain evaluation
index = scores won from this index/(scores won from
this index + scores lost from this index);
While the usage rate of a certain evaluation
index = (scores won from this index + scores
lost from this index)/(all scores won + all scores
lost);
 Evaluation of TT players’ technique effectiveness 1529

Table I. Observation unit in table tennis competition.

Indices Scoring Losing

First and third strokes Opponent fails in receive or fourth stroke (S1,3) Player fails in serve or third stroke (L1,3)
Second and fourth strokes Opponent fails in third stroke or fifth stroke (S2,4) Player fails in receive or fourth stroke (L2,4)
After fourth strokes Opponent fails in sixth or after sixth stroke (S>4) Player fails in fifth or after fifth stroke (L>4)

According to Table I, the computation method of 2. When UR = 0, no matter what value SR takes,
the scoring rate of each evaluation index is as it will always be the case that TE0 = 1. In this
follows: case, TE = 0.5 is also required; pffiffi
SR1,3 (scoring rate in first & third strokes) 3. When SR = 0 and UR = 1, TE0 ¼ 22 , in this
S1;3
¼ S1;3 þL ; case TE = 0 is required; pffiffiffi
4. When SR = 1 and UR = 1, TE0 ¼ 2, in this
1;3

SR2,4 (scoring rate in second & fourth strokes) case TE = 1 is required.

S2;4
¼ S2;4 þL 2;4
;
SR>4 (scoring rate in after fourth strokes) ¼ S>4SþL
>4
>4
; Based on the above analysis, we can obtain three
pairs of data reflecting the corresponding relation-
According to Table I, the computation method
ship of TE0 and TE:
of the usage rate of each evaluation index is as
follows:
pffiffiTE = 0.5
1. TE0 = 1,
UR1,3 (usage rate in the first & third strokes) 2. TE0 ¼ p 2
S1;3 þ L1;3 2 ffiffiffi, TE = 0
¼ all scoringþall losing ; 3. TE0 ¼ 2, TE = 1
UR2,4 (usage rate in the second & fourth
S2;4 þ L2;4
strokes) ¼ all scoringþall Then, by using quadratic function of TE0 to fit the
losing ;
three pairs of data of TE0 and TE, we can obtain the
UR>4 (usage rate after the fourth strokes) = representation formula of the effectiveness function
S>4 þ L>4
all scoringþall losing ;
TE:

pffiffiffi 
 pffiffiffi
2 pffiffiffi 2
TE ¼  1 þ þ ð1:5 þ 2Þ  TE0   TE20
Computation method of technique effectiveness (TE) 2 2
The table tennis players’ technique effectiveness is (2)
influenced by two factors: the scoring rate (SR) and
the usage rate (UR) of the technique. First, a func- pffiffi pffiffiffi
tion of TE0 is designed to satisfy the following pffiffi
In Equation (2), If A ¼ ð1 þ 22Þ; B ¼ ð1:5 þ 2Þ;
properties: when the scoring rate is bigger than C ¼  22 , then the formula of TE can be written as:
0.5, the higher the usage rate, the higher the tech-
nique effectiveness, and the function of the techni-
que effectiveness is the increasing function of the TE ¼ A þ B  TE0 þ C  TE20 (3)
usage rate. When the scoring rate is smaller than
0.5, the higher the usage rate, the lower the techni-
que effectiveness, and the function of the technique
effectiveness is the decreasing function. Construction of evaluation model of elite table tennis
Theoretically speaking, when the scoring rate is players’ technique effectiveness
equal to 0.5, no matter what the usage rate is, the The technique effectiveness values of the first and
TE0 value remains unchanged. third strokes, second and fourth strokes and after
fourth strokes were calculated respectively for each
TE0 ¼ ð1 þ URÞSR0:5 (1) match, and the percentile method was used to con-
struct the model for elite table tennis players’ tech-
Based on the above principles: nique effectiveness evaluation: When TE ≥ P70, it
was taken as EXCELLENT; when P70 > TE ≥ P50,
1. When SR = 0.5, no matter what value UR it was GOOD; when P50 >TE ≥ P30, it was
takes, it will always be the case that TE0 = 1. GENERAL; and when TE < P30, it was taken as
In this case, TE = 0.5 is required; POOR.
1530 H. Zhang et al.

Computation method of table tennis competition
performance (CP)
The score of a match is an important indicator of
players’ competition performance. In table tennis
competitions, team matches adopt the “best of five
games” system, while singles matches use the “best
of seven games” system. Each game is 11 scores.
Then, the maximum difference between winning
and losing is, in theory, 22 points (that is, the biggest
gap is between winning at 11:0 and losing at 0:11).
sffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
X n
CP ¼ 22  ðxi  11Þ2 =n
i¼1
in which xi is the point difference in each game.
When each game’s xi = 11, the maximum of CP is
22; when each game’s xi = –11, the minimum of CP
is 0. n is the number of games in each match.
Results
Independence test for the indices of technique effectiveness
evaluation of elite table tennis
Table II shows the mean and standard deviation of
the three technique effectiveness indices of elite table
tennis players. The independence test shows the three
indices have low or no correlation: in men’s matches,
the correlation between TE1,3 and TE2,4, TE1,3 and
TE>4, and TE2,4 and TE>4 is 0.217 (P > 0.05), 0.279
(P < 0.01), and 0.305 (P < 0.01) respectively; while in
women’s matches, the correlation between TE1,3 and
TE2,4, TE1,3 and TE>4, and TE2,4and TE>4 is 0.308
(P < 0.01), 0.161 (P > 0.05), and 0.280 (P < 0.01)
respectively (Wang, 2008).
Evaluation criteria for technique effectiveness value of
elite table tennis players
The various data of the player technique effectiveness
values were verified to present in a normal distribu-
tion. The evaluation criteria for male and female
players’ technique effectiveness were obtained with
the technique effectiveness evaluation method shown
in Table III.
Comparative analysis of technique effectiveness values of
table tennis players from China and other countries and
regions
(4)
Chinese players held the top five places in both male
and female world rankings as of April 2012, indicat-
ing that Chinese players take a significant lead over
players from other countries and regions in techni-
que effectiveness (Tables IV and V).
TE1,3 is 0.554 for male Chinese players and 0.530
for male players from other countries and regions.
This shows that Chinese players have significantly
higher technique effectiveness values (t = 3.115,
P < 0.01). Likewise, male Chinese players demon-
strate significantly higher TE2,4 compared to players
from other countries and regions (t = 4.388,
P < 0.01). Furthermore, male Chinese players have
significantly better TE>4 (t = 5.142, P < 0.01).
As with the male Chinese players, the female
Chinese players demonstrated significantly higher
technique effectiveness values for all three indices
compared with players from other countries and
regions (Table V): TE1,3 (t = 3.864, P < 0.01);
TE2,4 (t = 3.485, P < 0.01) ; and TE>4 (t = 4.098,
P < 0.01).
Application of TE and CP in Trainings

Table II. Mean and standard deviation of elite players’ technique

In preparations for world competitions, Chinese
effectiveness values. national table tennis teams often use TE and CP to
evaluate and analyse players’ technical status. The
Indices Male (n = 121) Female (n = 123) present research chooses two case analyses to illus-
TE1,3 0.544 ± 0.043 0.549 ± 0.037 trate the specific application of TC and CP. The two
TE2,4 0.506 ± 0.048 0.492 ± 0.042 players (a male and a female elite player, ranked
TE>4 0.453 ± 0.056 0.456 ± 0.067 within the world top ten) were major opponents of

Table III. Evaluation criteria for technique effectiveness value of elite players.

Gender Excellent Good General Poor

Male TE1,3 ≥ 0.565 0.565 > TE1,3 ≥ 0.543 0.543 > TE1,3 ≥ 0.520 TE1,3<0.520
TE2,4 ≥ 0.533 0.533 > TE2,4 ≥ 0.506 0.506 > TE2,4 ≥ 0.477 TE2,4< 0.477
TE>4 ≥ 0.477 0.477 > TE>4 ≥ 0.454 0.454 > TE>4 ≥ 0.423 TE>4< 0.423
Female TE1,3 ≥ 0.567 0.567 > TE1,3 ≥ 0.549 0.549 > TE1,3 ≥ 0.526 TE1,3< 0.526
TE2,4 ≥ 0.517 0.517 > TE2,4 ≥ 0.493 0.493 > TE2,4 ≥ 0.465 TE2,4< 0.465
TE>4 ≥ 0.483 0.483 > TE>4 ≥ 0.456 0.456 > TE>4 ≥ 0.431 TE>4< 0.431
 Evaluation of TT players’ technique effectiveness 1531

Table IV. Comparison of technique effectiveness values between male players from China and other countries and regions.

Indices China (n = 70) Other countries and regions (n = 51) P (t-test)

TE1,3 Value 0.554 ± 0.042 0.530 ± 0.042** 0.002

Evaluation Good General
TE2,4 Value 0.521 ± 0.045 0.485 ± 0.045** 0.000
Evaluation Good General
TE>4 Value 0.473 ± 0.051 0.426 ± 0.050** 0.000
Evaluation Excellent General

Note: **Significantly (P < 0.01) different from Chinese players.

Table V. Comparison of technique effectiveness values between female players from China and other countries and regions.

Indices China (n = 53) Other countries and regions (n = 70) P (t-test)

TE1,3 Value 0.563 ± 0.034 0.537 ± 0.036** 0.000

Evaluation Excellent General
TE2,4 Value 0.508 ± 0.043 0.478 ± 0.039** 0.001
Evaluation Good General
E>4 Value 0.484 ± 0.068 0.435 ± 0.058** 0.000
Evaluation Excellent General

Note: **Significantly (P < 0.01) different from Chinese players.

Chinese national teams in competitions with the
world top five Chinese players between 2010 and
2012.
Case 1. The overall technique evaluation of the 12
matches between the male elite player and the top
five Chinese players is as follows: His mean value of
TE1,3 is “good”, TE2,4 is “general”, TE>4 is “poor”,
and the mean value of CP is 9.020 (Table VI),
showing that this player has an overall general per-
formance in techniques compared with his world top
five Chinese counterparts.
However, in his three winning matches (Match
No.5, 9, 12), this player’s CP reached 12.010,
11.307 and 11.119 respectively. Besides, at least
one TE value in each of his three winning matches
is qualified as “excellent”, one TE value is rated as
“good” or above, and only one TE value is rated as
“general”. In his other losing matches, he has at least
one TE value rated as “poor” (Table VI).
Through computing the bivariate correlation coef-
ficient between the TE values of various technique
indices and the CP value, we further found that the
coefficient between his TE1,3 and CP is r = 0.752
(P < 0.01), the coefficient between his TE2,4 and CP
is r = 0.557 (P < 0.05), and the coefficient between
his TE>4 and CP is r = 0.761 (P < 0.01). Therefore,
it’s crucial for him to enhance his effectiveness in the
“first and third strokes” and “after fourth strokes” in
future training.
Case 2. The overall technique evaluations of the
nine matches between the female elite player and
the top five Chinese players during 2010–2012 are
as follows: her overall TE1,3 is “poor”, TE2,4 is
“general”, TE>4 is “good”, and her CP is 9.174,
showing that she is weak overall in techniques
compared with her Chinese competitors
(Table VII).
In her three winning matches (Match No.1, 7,
8), her CP values were as high as 12.151, 11.248
and 10.973 respectively. In the first match, she was
extremely effective in using various techniques
(rated as “excellent”, “good” and “good” respec-
tively). In the seventh match, though her TE1,3
(0.546) was only “general”, her performance was
almost close to “good”. Besides, in the same
match her TE>4 (0.521) far exceeded the criteria
of “excellent”.
In the eighth match, the scores were very close
(8:11, 10:12, 11:9, 11:9, 11:9), therefore her CP
value was not very high (10.973) and the TE
values for each index were 0.547 (“general”),
0.500 (“good”) and 0.463 (“good”) respectively
(Table VII). Similarly, in her losing matches, at
least one TE value of the indices was rated as
“poor”.
A further analysis of the bivariate correlation
coefficient between the player’s technique effective-
ness values in various indices and her CP value
reveals that the correlation coefficient between her
TE1,3 and her CP is r = 0.877 (P < 0.01), the
correlation coefficient between her TE2,4 and her
CP is r = 0.665 (P = 0.05), and the correlation
coefficient between her TE>4 and CP is r = 0.388
(P < 0.05). Therefore, she may need to further
promote the effectiveness in her “first and third
strokes”.
1532 H. Zhang et al.

Table VI. A world top ten male’s player’s TE values and evaluations in his competition with Chinese players during 2010–2012.

TE1,3 TE2,4 TE>4

Match No. Value Evaluation Value Evaluation Value Evaluation CP

1 0.525 General 0.430 Poor 0.454 Good 7.630

2 0.591 Excellent 0.456 Poor 0.383 Poor 8.528
3 0.603 Excellent 0.471 Poor 0.416 Poor 10.433
4 0.561 Good 0.477 General 0.442 Poor 9.976
5 0.579 Excellent 0.549 Excellent 0.431 General 12.010
6 0.590 Excellent 0.483 General 0.471 Good 10.992
7 0.500 Poor 0.470 Poor 0.365 Poor 6.149
8 0.490 Poor 0.462 Poor 0.376 Poor 6.165
9 0.545 Good 0.537 Excellent 0.444 General 11.307
10 0.469 Poor 0.519 Good 0.414 Poor 7.613
11 0.508 Poor 0.500 General 0.344 Poor 6.322
12 0.554 Good 0.553 Excellent 0.462 Good 11.119
Mean 0.543 Good 0.492 General 0.417 Poor 9.020

Table VII. A world top ten female player’s TE values and evaluations in her competition with Chinese players during 2010–2012.

TE1,3 TE2,4 TE>4

Match No. Value Evaluation Value Evaluation Value Evaluation CP

1 0.599 Excellent 0.500 Good 0.46 Good 12.151

2 0.551 Good 0.513 Good 0.423 Poor 9.613
3 0.483 Poor 0.500 Good 0.448 General 8.371
4 0.475 Poor 0.454 Poor 0.457 Good 7.613
5 0.507 Poor 0.458 Poor 0.439 General 7.633
6 0.491 Poor 0.409 Poor 0.500 Excellent 7.947
7 0.546 General 0.485 General 0.521 Excellent 11.248
8 0.547 General 0.500 Good 0.463 Good 10.973
9 0.508 Poor 0.444 Poor 0.424 Poor 7.020
Mean 0.523 Poor 0.474 General 0.459 Good 9.174

Discussion According to the world ranking of April 2012,

Chinese players occupied the top five positions in
In the present research, the evaluation model is con-
both male and female ranking lists. This shows
structed for table tennis technique effectiveness for
their indisputable technical advantages in world
more accurate and convenient evaluation and analy-
table tennis competitions and this also fits in well
sis of player technique effectiveness. The construc-
with our findings in the present study. Chinese
tion is based on the features of the relationship
male and female players are rated as “excellent”
between the scoring rate and usage rate of the tech-
in all of their technique indices except in the
nique, that is, taking 0.5 as the standard of the scor-
male’s “first and third strokes” (which was rated
ing rate, when the scoring rate is bigger than 0.5, it
as “good”). On the contrary, male and female
serves as the increasing function; when the scoring
players from other countries and regions, though
rate is smaller than 0.5, it becomes the decreasing
also on the world top 35 list, when compared with
function. However, in the extreme case, that is,
their Chinese counterparts, are evaluated as “gen-
when the usage rate of an index is 0, then the tech-
eral” in all of the technique usage. This reveals the
nique effectiveness value of this index would still be
sharp differences in technique effectiveness
the median of 0.5. In this case, the TE formula
between Chinese players and those from other
doesn’t seem adaptable, but this is obviously not
countries and regions.
true of the competition realities in this study.
The computation formula of competition perfor-
Figure 1 shows the comparison of the scoring rate,
mance fails to reproduce the process of score differ-
usage rate and technique effectiveness value of an
ences. For instance, xi in the CP formula is the
elite player’s (ranked within the world top ten) first
difference between the scores gained and lost in
and third strokes. It can be seen that the TE value is
each game. When the scores are 11:9 or 13:11, xi is
in fact the modification of the scoring rate according
2 in both cases. Therefore, the current CP formula
to the usage rate.

Rate 1 1
0.9
0.8
0.7
0.6
0.5
0.4
0.3
0.2
0.1
0 0
1 2 3 4
Scoring Rate
Figure 1. Comparison of scoring rate, usage rate and TE value of a world top ten male player’s first and third strokes.
hasn’t effectively solved this problem. However, it
does reflect the competition level to a certain degree.
The correlation analysis of technique effectiveness
value and competition performance value in the pre-
sent study helps identify the technique indices highly
correlated to player competition performance and
hence may help players and coaches to conduct
more pertinent training.
Conclusions
The combination of the scoring rate and usage rate
and the computation of technique effectiveness
values can help conduct more accurate analyses
and evaluations on players’ effectiveness in their
“first and third strokes”, “second and fourth strokes”
and “after fourth strokes”. And this may also help
coaches with better observation and comprehension
of the overall technique effectiveness of players.
Coaches can also use the competition performance
value to quantitatively evaluate players’ competition
performance and identify those technique indices
most related to competition performance. This eva-
luation may help provide pertinent guidance in train-
ing and competitions and further promote technical
and tactical capabilities of players.
Acknowledgements
This work was supported by the grants from
Shanghai Key Lab of Human Performance
(Shanghai University of Sport)(No. 11DZ2261100)
and Shanghai Science and Technology Commission
(No. 10490503700).
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