Table Tennis Technology: ITTF Umpire Workflow, Video Review and TT Broadcast Graphics

ITTF event structure and tooling

International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) events are run on the ITTF Match Management System (MMS) for draws, results and rankings. On court, the umpire scores on either a manual flip scoreboard or — increasingly at WTT events — a digital umpire tablet that drives the LED scoreboard, the on-screen graphic and the live results portal at the same time.

Video Umpire review

Premier WTT and ITTF events use a Video Umpire Review System: 2–4 high-speed cameras (typically 240–480 fps) cover edge-of-table, net-cord and service-legality scenarios. Either umpire or a designated coach can call for a review. The review is run from a dedicated VAR-style booth and the decision is logged in the scoring system.

Typical TT event tech checklist

• Umpire scoring tablet per table, linked to ITTF MMS or equivalent
• Table-side LED scoreboard showing game score, match score and serve indicator
• Centralised results screen for the playing hall (large LED or projection)
• Video umpire review setup for at least one show table
• Live web results portal with auto-refresh and a fixtures notification feed
• Broadcast graphics from vMix / Singular.live driven by the umpire scoring data

Broadcast graphics for table tennis

Standard graphics: corner score bug, server indicator, rally counter, lower-thirds with player bios and seeding, slow-motion replay tag, edge-of-table review animation, end-of-game summary, end-of-match stats card.

Broadcast graphics typically include lower-thirds for athlete names and bios, an on-screen scoreboard or 'bug' fed live from the scoring system, dynamic start lists, results pages, head-to-head comparisons, sponsor bumpers, replay wipes, and end-of-session summary cards. Output is usually delivered over SDI from a graphics engine (vMix, Singular.live, CasparCG, or a federation-supplied template pack) into the ATEM or production switcher.