Group stage

How group standings work

A full breakdown of how Table Tennis Tube ranks players inside a round-robin group — the ranking rules, what each column means, and exactly how two-way, three-way, and bigger ties are resolved step by step.

Ranking rules

Four rules, applied in order

Every player's spot in the table is decided by the first rule below that isn't a tie. If it's a tie, move to the next rule — but only among the players still tied.

1

Points

2 points for a match win, 1 point for a match loss. Every completed match — including walkovers and retirements — awards points to both players. A player who hasn't finished any matches yet has 0 points.

2

Point differential

Total points (balls) scored across every game in the group, minus points conceded. A player who wins matches by big scorelines climbs above one who only just scraped through.

3

Set differential

Total sets/games won minus sets/games lost across the group. This only comes into play when two or more players still can't be separated by points or point differential.

4

Player rating

The higher-rated player ranks first if everything above is still level. This is the final tiebreaker — if ratings match too, it's treated as a genuine tie.

Column reference

What each column means

ColumnMeaning
PLMatches played (completed, including walkovers/retirements).
W / D / LMatches won / drawn / lost. Draws don't occur in table tennis, so this column stays at 0.
PF–PA (or GM) Points For–Points Against: total points scored minus conceded across every game played. GM is just an older column label for this exact same number — some pages call it PF–PA, others call it GM, but it's the identical stat either way.
PTSTotal points from Rule 1 above (2 per win, 1 per loss).
Ties

How 2-way, 3-way, and bigger ties are resolved

There's no separate "tiebreaker system" — it's the exact same four rules above, applied repeatedly to a shrinking group of still-tied players.

Two-way tie

Only the two tied players are compared, rule by rule: point differential first, then set differential, then rating — stopping as soon as one of them is ahead.

Three-way (or bigger) tie

All tied players are re-ranked together on the next rule. If that separates some of them, the players still tied form a smaller group and only they continue on to the rule after that. This repeats until everyone is separated, or every rule is exhausted.

If players are still level after rating too, it's a genuine tie — the app keeps their existing table order instead of guessing.
Worked examples

Same rules, real numbers

Example — two-way tie

Alice and Bob both finish 2 wins–1 loss = 5 points each (tied on Rule 1).

PlayerPTSPoint diff.
Alice5+30 (150 for, 120 against)
Bob5+10 (140 for, 130 against)

Alice's +30 beats Bob's +10 on Rule 2, so Alice ranks above Bob — no need to even look at set differential or rating.

Example — three-way tie

Alice, Bob, and Carol all finish 2 wins–1 loss = 5 points each (three-way tie on Rule 1).

PlayerPTSPoint diff.Set diff.
Alice5+25+3
Bob5+25+1
Carol5+10

Carol's +10 is behind on Rule 2, so she drops to 3rd. Alice and Bob are still tied at +25, so only those two continue to Rule 3 (set differential): Alice +3 beats Bob +1. Final order: Alice 1st, Bob 2nd, Carol 3rd.

Good to know

Special cases

  • Withdrawn players are excluded from the standings table entirely, but matches already played against them still count for their opponents.
  • Walkovers and retirements count as a completed, decided match — they award points and affect point/set differential just like a fully played match.
  • Unplayed matches (not yet scored) don't count toward any player's stats — standings only reflect completed results.
  • This exact same ranking order is used everywhere group placement matters — the Groups → Standings tab, the Matches grid "Pos" column, and knockout bracket seeding from group results.

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