Table tennis only appears on most people’s radar during the Olympics. It’s usually received very well however, with the frenetic speed of the game making for an enthralling spectacle.
Table tennis only appears on most people’s radar during the Olympics. It’s usually received very well however, with the frenetic speed of the game making for an enthralling spectacle.
Unfortunately, Britain hasn’t had much success in the sport, with Asia (and China, in particular) extremely dominant. This means that table tennis events are given very little coverage in this country, but there is actually a full tour schedule as well as European leagues going on all year round, giving you plenty of opportunity to bet on table tennis matches.
The ITTF Pro Tour Opens are the cornerstone of the table tennis season. Between 10 and 15 of these tournaments take place each year, held all over the world in places like China, Brazil and Germany. There’s also the Table Tennis World Championships (held every odd year) and the annual World Cup, with Chinese players dominating across the board in recent times.
Many of the major tournaments are available to bet on at Bet365 Table Tennis, which offers a host of interesting ante-post and in-play markets. On top of regular Match Winner bets, a popular option is the Over/Under Total Match Points market, where bookies offer a figure and you bet whether there’ll be more or fewer than that scored in the match as a whole.
This market is particularly good if you can pick matches you feel will be close - and thus bet on Over - or contests where one player is much stronger than the other - and thus go with Under. The latter is a great way to enhance your odds if betting on a strong favourite, because you’re essentially backing them to win comfortably rather than just to win outright.
Bet365 offers live streams of many of the biggest table tennis matches, allowing you to take full advantage of its wide range of in-play markets. The live betting options are diverse; you can wager on which player will be the first to three, five, seven or nine points in each game, or even on who’ll win the next point. The first to three points market offers a good opportunity to back the underdog, as they can catch the stronger player taking a breather despite being generally dominant in the match. It’s usually the business end of each set where the class begins to tell, so this market can prove rewarding with some decent odds on offer.