Scoring bias caused by services in table tennis

In table tennis, servers have the potential advantage of scoring bias when serving. However, the length of the scoring bias, i.e. the shot number where any bias is eliminated, has not been clarified. This study aimed to clarify the level and length of scoring bias occurring at services in table ten...

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Main Authors: Sho Tamaki, Kazuto Yoshida
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Universidad de Granada 2020-12-01
Series:International Journal of Racket Sports Science
Subjects:
Online Access:https://journal.racketsportscience.org/index.php/ijrss/article/view/16
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author Sho Tamaki
Kazuto Yoshida
author_facet Sho Tamaki
Kazuto Yoshida
author_sort Sho Tamaki
collection DOAJ
description In table tennis, servers have the potential advantage of scoring bias when serving. However, the length of the scoring bias, i.e. the shot number where any bias is eliminated, has not been clarified. This study aimed to clarify the level and length of scoring bias occurring at services in table tennis. We analysed 45 men’s singles matches (3,665 rallies) and 29 women’s singles matches (2,352 rallies) from the 2012 London Olympic games and 49 men’s singles matches (4,404 rallies) and 31 women’s singles matches (2,320 rallies) from the 2016 Rio Olympic games. The statistical analysis revealed that services generate a low scoring phase at the second shot and slightly high scoring phase at the third shot. Moreover, the level of the scoring bias became trivial after the third shot, although a small scoring bias could remain. Players should therefore be cautious of a scoring bias until the third shot. In the gender comparison, the scoring bias observed in matches of male players was larger than that of female players up to the third shot. This result indicates that male players are more likely to take advantage of service than female players. In the winner/loser comparison, it was found that losers use the service to create scoring bias as effectively as winners do. Losers’ inferior skills and tactics in the shots after services were the major factor in the difference in the occurrence of missed shots between winners and losers. Finally, we found that the performance of each shot number should be analysed separately up to the third shot, as the remaining effect of the service is remarkably different among shot numbers. The results of this study contribute important suggestions to the conventional methods of performance analysis that empirically separate a rally into three phases.
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spelling doaj.art-8a3a6d7bcc3245f49c69b259483d7df42022-12-22T02:29:10ZengUniversidad de GranadaInternational Journal of Racket Sports Science2695-45082020-12-012210.30827/Digibug.65360Scoring bias caused by services in table tennisSho Tamaki0Kazuto Yoshida1Meio UniversityJuntendo University In table tennis, servers have the potential advantage of scoring bias when serving. However, the length of the scoring bias, i.e. the shot number where any bias is eliminated, has not been clarified. This study aimed to clarify the level and length of scoring bias occurring at services in table tennis. We analysed 45 men’s singles matches (3,665 rallies) and 29 women’s singles matches (2,352 rallies) from the 2012 London Olympic games and 49 men’s singles matches (4,404 rallies) and 31 women’s singles matches (2,320 rallies) from the 2016 Rio Olympic games. The statistical analysis revealed that services generate a low scoring phase at the second shot and slightly high scoring phase at the third shot. Moreover, the level of the scoring bias became trivial after the third shot, although a small scoring bias could remain. Players should therefore be cautious of a scoring bias until the third shot. In the gender comparison, the scoring bias observed in matches of male players was larger than that of female players up to the third shot. This result indicates that male players are more likely to take advantage of service than female players. In the winner/loser comparison, it was found that losers use the service to create scoring bias as effectively as winners do. Losers’ inferior skills and tactics in the shots after services were the major factor in the difference in the occurrence of missed shots between winners and losers. Finally, we found that the performance of each shot number should be analysed separately up to the third shot, as the remaining effect of the service is remarkably different among shot numbers. The results of this study contribute important suggestions to the conventional methods of performance analysis that empirically separate a rally into three phases. https://journal.racketsportscience.org/index.php/ijrss/article/view/16table tennisservicestatistical analysisperformance analysis
spellingShingle Sho Tamaki
Kazuto Yoshida
Scoring bias caused by services in table tennis
International Journal of Racket Sports Science
table tennis
service
statistical analysis
performance analysis
title Scoring bias caused by services in table tennis
title_full Scoring bias caused by services in table tennis
title_fullStr Scoring bias caused by services in table tennis
title_full_unstemmed Scoring bias caused by services in table tennis
title_short Scoring bias caused by services in table tennis
title_sort scoring bias caused by services in table tennis
topic table tennis
service
statistical analysis
performance analysis
url https://journal.racketsportscience.org/index.php/ijrss/article/view/16
work_keys_str_mv AT shotamaki scoringbiascausedbyservicesintabletennis
AT kazutoyoshida scoringbiascausedbyservicesintabletennis