Table Tennis is a wonderful game with a requirement of a lot of quick movements and is no doubt the fastest sport in the world. No matter at whatever level you are whether you are a beginner, intermediate or a pro, having the right shoes for table tennis will always act as a wonderful weapon in your arsenal.



WHY NEED A SPECIFIC PAIR OF SHOES FOR TABLE TENNIS? 


This question would naturally arise especially if you are just entering the sport. Any building that stands tall needs a solid foundation. If the foundation is weak, the building shall collapse in no time which would cost lives of people staying in it. Over here, the right shoes will act as a solid foundation for your game because they would help you keep a solid grip to the floor while doing quick movements.

What happens when you don’t have the right shoe? If you wear a shoe which loosely grips the floor, then the chances are high that you might slip while playing and get your leg injured. To avoid that, we need specific shoes i.e -> the NON - MARKING GUM SOLE SHOES for playing Table Tennis.

DIFFERENCE BETWEEN NON-MARKING GUM SOLE SHOES AND OTHER SHOES

Firstly, let’s compare Racket Sports shoes v/s Running Shoes:

As it says in the above image, 
Racket Sports Shoes -> Lateral Movements 
Running Shoes -> Linear movements


What happens if you use Running Shoes for Table Tennis or any Racket Sport?

Firstly, as running shoes are used outdoors, a lot of dust is settled on the outsole which would generally not give a good grip while playing indoors and has a high chance of slipping while playing Table Tennis or any Racket Sport. Moreover, the club doesn’t allow outside shoes inside the hall as it might degrade the flooring


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Secondly, using a Running shoe for lateral movements will cause the shoe to tear from the sides shown in the image below. Since a running shoe is long and narrow, while doing lateral movements, there is too much pressure from your little finger which leads to tearing of the shoe.

Hence, we recommend using a shoe designed for lateral movements which are Racket Sports shoes. Now, let’s go a bit deeper and know



Tennis Shoes v/s Table Tennis shoes


TENNIS SHOES
TABLE TENNIS SHOES

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To view our Table Tennis shoes, feel free to browse decathlon.in by clicking on the link below 

Table Tennis Shoes at Decathlon



CHOOSING THE RIGHT SIZE OF YOUR SHOES


Be it Running shoes or Racket Sport shoes, it is always recommended to take:

  • 1 size bigger than your foot size for a regular width foot &
  • 2 sizes bigger than your foot size for a broad foot
Let’s look at the image below:










As you can see from the image, there is always a  2 to 3 cm gap between the toe and the tip of the shoe and some space at the sides as well. It’s important to have such a gap because when you run or play any racket sport, your foot naturally goes ahead while doing the footwork. If you don’t have sufficient gap ahead and at the side, then you might start feeling some pinching on your toe and on the little finger while playing the sport. This would generally make your experience not so WOW! And you might also lose interest in playing that particular sport (considering Table Tennis in this matter). Hence, we advise you to keep at least 1 to 2 cm gap ahead and around 1 cm on the side. 


Confused with your size? View the size chart below:



So, to wrap up, we saw the differences between various shoes that differ from a Table Tennis shoe and by now I hope you have a fair idea of how to choose your right Table Tennis shoes. 


Have any more questions? Feel free to express yourself in the comment section below. Also, Let us know how you felt about this article by adding your thoughts below. 

Thanks. 

Wish you Happy Table Tennis. 

Cheers :)




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Related tags
Related tags :
Racket Sports
Table Tennis
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