We’ve seen long rallies in table tennis before, but this one is a little excessive:
This 766-shot record-setting table tennis rally ended in the least satisfying way
James Dator has been covering a wide range of sports for SB Nation for over a decade, with a special focus on the NFL.
Li Jie and Hitomi Sato are both professional table tennis players who approach the game from a defensive standpoint. Each player prefers to counterattack, rather than push the tempo themselves — which made their rally at Seamaster 2017 World Tour so bizarre.
Neither player had any interest in attacking first, which turned the point into a game of basement ping pong, except these are professionals. The result was a stunning 766 shot rally that lasted over 10 minutes and only got stopped because a second ball was accidentally dropped into the play area — halting the point.
The rally is going to go down as the longest in modern table tennis. Because of this sequence alone, the “Expedite System” was instated for the remainder of the match. This is a rule implemented if it appears a game will take too long to complete, and it forces players to win a point after 13 shots or the point is automatically awarded to the receiver.
You know you want to watch the full thing.
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