How do I penalise misbehaviour by a player or coach?

Question

Accepted Answer

Under ITTF Statutes 2026, regulation 3.5.2, misbehaviour includes abusive language, deliberately breaking the ball or hitting it out of the playing area, kicking the table or surrounds, and disrespecting match officials.

Players (same individual match or team match):

Offence	Action
Serious offence, at any time	Suspend play and report immediately to the referee
First less-serious offence	May show a yellow card and warn that further offences may be penalised
Second offence	1 point to the opponent; hold up yellow and red cards together
Next offence	2 points to the opponent; yellow and red together
Continues after 3 penalty points	Suspend play and report immediately to the referee
Changes an undamaged racket during the match	Suspend play and report to the referee

In doubles, a warning or penalty against either player applies to the pair. In a team match it doesn't carry to the non-offending player's later singles; a doubles pair starts with the higher of its players' warnings or penalties in that team match.

Coaches and other advisers: after a warning, a further offence in the same match gets a red card and they're sent away from the playing area until the end of the individual match (individual event) or team match.

The referee can disqualify a player from a match, event or competition for seriously unfair or offensive behaviour (showing a red card), and can disqualify for the rest of the competition anyone sent away from the playing area twice. Very serious misbehaviour is reported to the offender's association.