The Use of Intelligent Racket to Objectively Measure Abilities of a table Tennis Player with an Intellectual Impairment: A Case Study

Abstract

The purpose of this case study was to measure abilities of a table tennis (TT) player with an intellectual impairment (II). The intelligent racket was used to objectively evaluate powerful forehand smash swing and forehand topspin movements. A 27 year-old TT player who competed in the international II championships was tested in the classification room by two international TT classifiers. The testing results in the classification sections including service, return service and basic skills were 26, 24, and 30, respectively. His score in this TT-specific test for II was 80 points out of 108 points. In addition, the average efficiency of forehand smash and topspin movements were 0.12 ± 0.02 and 0.03 ± 0.01. The decay of 27 swings in forehand smash and topspin was 19.29% and 10.25%, respectively. Offering the objective and extensive data may provide the useful evidence to confirm the abilities of this TT player with II. This case study clearly demonstrated that combination of classification testing data and swing tests evaluated by the intelligent racket was the useful approach to evaluate the abilities of TT players with II. More data collection and analysis for players with II is recommended to ensure the dual tests in classification for II in the future.