Choosing a Good Table Tennis Ball

Choosing a Good Table Tennis Ball

At PingSkills we have been asked how do you choose a good ball. It can be quite difficult if you are not sure what you are looking for.
The things to look for are firstly that the ball does not have a seam around the middle
of it that is visible. If you can see that seam you can reject that ball straight away.
That ball will often have a flat spot around the seam area. The other thing to look for
is how firm the ball is. This ball here you can see that when I press in reasonably firmly the ball caves in on the side. Whereas with this trainer ball you can see that the same amount of pressure and the ball does not budge. That is what you are looking for in the firmness of the ball. And this three star ball again you can put quite a lot of pressure and the
ball will not cave in. How much pressure do you put on a ball? If you grap your thumb
and push quite firmly so that you are going in to the bone, that is the amount of pressure
that you are looking for, for the ball to withstand. The another thing to look for is how round
the ball is. Now by just taking a ball like that it is often quite difficult to see that
it is perfectly round. The best way to do it is to spin the ball. By looking at it from
the top you can see if it has any wobbles in it. Think about spinning an egg and you
can see the egg wobbles quite a lot. Whereas with a perfectly round ball you won’t see
any wobbling from the top.

Comments (28)

  1. Good question Identity01. The stars on the ball indicate the quality. A one star ball is the lowest quality and a three star ball is the highest quality. All International tournaments use 3 star balls. Even with 3 star balls, most players still check to ensure the ball is firm and perfectly round.

  2. Do you have any opinion on the texture of the ball surface?

  3. CTMSanJose is right…but i like the orange better than white haha

  4. 3 star balls are most consistent and used for tournaments. For me, TSP, JOOLA, DHS red star, Nittaku Premium are the favorites.

  5. You can. Go to our website and see what is in our online store. If you don't find what you are looking for then use the "Contact Us" page on our website and let us know what you're after and we can give you a quote.

  6. PingSkills can get you some nittaku 3 star balls. If you use the contact us page on our website and let us know how many you are after we can give you a quote.

  7. i use JOOLA gold 3 stars.

    they are good.

  8. I prefer 1 star sportscraft balls.

    You know, the orange ones

  9. wow, really makes us Australians look exciting 😐

  10. please make a video how to choose a good racket(bat)(paddle)

  11. wow! i think that would be pretty tough! but everyone wants to know how to do that

  12. do u know the difference between a 3 star ball and a 5 star???? what is better???

  13. after 2 hours of play with the same ball, i notice that the ball starts to get a bit glossy and smoother. does that mean that i should use a new ball?

  14. @bkjumbo That is true. We now use a microphone so all our latest videos have much better sound quality.

  15. @The45Goku Some sports shops do sell Table Tennis rubbers but not many here in Australia. There are a lot of online shops now though that make it easier to purchase Table Tennis equipment.

  16. Should of mentioned to spin the ball on at least two perpendicular axes; three would be better.

  17. This should be called 'Choosing a Good Table Tennis Ball After You've Already Bought It'.

  18. Are Dunlop 3 star ball any good alois

  19. Alois I wanna ask u a trick to return smashes as my friend is a great smasher and I sometimes can't return her serve

  20. Alois and Jeff (—–_—–) how can I buy nittaku balls that u have tell me all about ur balls pl pl pl pl pl I love ping skills

  21. Pl reply me fast

  22. +PingSkills Thanks,it helped

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