{"id":10222,"date":"2017-02-24T18:07:00","date_gmt":"2017-02-24T18:07:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/associatednews.us\/content\/2017\/02\/24\/watch-2-table-tennis-titleholders-have-epic-766-shot-rally\/"},"modified":"2017-02-24T18:07:00","modified_gmt":"2017-02-24T18:07:00","slug":"watch-2-table-tennis-titleholders-have-epic-766-shot-rally","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/associatednews.us\/content\/watch-2-table-tennis-titleholders-have-epic-766-shot-rally\/","title":{"rendered":"WATCH: 2 Table Tennis Titleholders Have Epic, 766-Shot Rally"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Rebecca Hersher<\/a><\/span> <\/p>\n

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\n Li Jie, pictured in 2009, was one of two elite players in a rally that lasted more than 10 minutes at the Qatar Open table tennis tournament.<\/p>\n

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Daniel Maurer\/Associated Press<\/p>\n

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Daniel Maurer\/Associated Press<\/p>\n

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Today, two table tennis pros met at the Qatar Open and ended up locked in a staggering 10-minute, 766-shot rally.<\/p>\n

The International Table Tennis Federation, which runs the event, said in an Instagram video<\/a> that it “has got to be the longest rally ever in modern table tennis history!”<\/p>\n

Li Jie of the Netherlands and Hitomi Sato of Japan are both internationally ranked table tennis players known for their defensive skills. Li competed in the 2008 and 2012 Olympics<\/a>. Sato is a champion doubles player<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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This 766 shots rally between Li Jie and Hitomi Sato has got to be the longest rally ever in modern #tabletennis history! #ITTFWorldTour<\/a><\/p>\n

A post shared by ITTF World (@ittfworld) on Feb 23, 2017 at 12:48pm PST<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n

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The score when Thursday’s rally happened was 0-0.<\/p>\n

Neither player “took the risk to attack first, resulting in an endless rally,” the ITTF wrote.<\/p>\n

The rally was interrupted not by a failure of focus or coordination, but by a stray ball from a neighboring match area. Under the ITTF rules<\/a>, a rally may be stopped “because the conditions of play are disturbed in a way which could affect the outcome of the rally.”<\/p>\n

Presumably, another little white ball entering the players’ field of vision could affect the outcome.<\/p>\n

Article continues after sponsorship<\/a><\/span><\/div>\n