Defaulting in Tournaments

Hi, Coach :)

Recently, I played in a tournament. I had a slight shoulder problem which was enhanced by smashing lobs back on the table. Sometimes these rallies would last a while. Thoughts of defaulting began to emerge because three years ago, I got Tennis elbow while playing in a tournament, but rather than quitting, I played through an enormous amount of pain and amazingly won some matches! After the tournament, I was unable to play table tennis for three months.   

In this latest tournament that I played, I became aware from others that there were many people defaulting. One of the guys at my club who was also playing at the tournament not only defaulted once but twice and went on to play in other events. I have heard of others doing the same. I believe there has to be some sort of rule that if you default, you cannot play in any other events and if you do, you lose points from the matches you didn't play! I don't think it's fair for others when you default trying to protect your rating! What are your thoughts?  

Hi Mike,

I totally agree with you.  I think you shouldn't be able to default and then play other matches.  This does happen when players are trying to protect their ratings buy not playing lower ranked players.  In some rating systems you do lose points as if you had lost the match anyway which is probably the correct way to view it.

I do think though that if you are in pain then you should default your match.  It is better to be able to pay again the next day than have to stop playing for an extended period of time.