The competition shall be held in accordance with the General Rules of the Inter-Agency Games and the rules of the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF), except where the present competition rules provide otherwise. (The ITTF Rules regarding rackets plus their coverings apply).
- Each team shall consist of three players with the option of two additional reserves; one of whom shall act as captain. A reserve may replace a player in a singles match not yet begun or play in a doubles match in accordance with paragraph 5 below. The host organization shall provide the services of a chief referee to keep the match records and to settle any dispute which may arise. The chief referee’s decision shall be final.
- The host organization shall provide table tennis balls and sufficient tables for the competition, as well as one or more tables for training. The minimum playing area per table shall be 10 x 5 meters, but preferably 14m long, 7m wide and 5m high. The host organization shall establish the schedule of encounters in accordance with paragraph 11 of the General Rules of the Games.
- Each encounter shall normally be played on one table and shall consist of a maximum of 10 matches, consisting of one round of three singles matches, followed by a doubles match, a second round of 3 singles matches and, if necessary, a third round of 3 singles matches. After the first round of singles matches have been completed, each team shall nominate two players, one of whom may be a reserve, for the doubles match. If after the second round of singles matches the score is 6-1 or 7-0, the encounter shall be considered over. Otherwise, the final round of singles matches shall be played until a winning score is achieved (6-2 or 6-3 or 6-4) or a tie results (5-5).
- Each match shall be played on one table and shall consist of a maximum of 5 sets, and decided on the basis of the best of 5 sets.
- For each encounter the match points shall be attributed as follows: the winning team shall receive 2 match points; in case of a tie (5-5), each team shall receive 1 match point.
- The competition shall comprise three rounds: (a) qualifying, (b) semi final, and (c) final. If warranted by a smaller number of participating teams, the competition may be decided in a round-robin modus (each team playing against every other team).
- For the qualifying round, the teams shall be divided into two groups, A and B. The two teams which placed first and second in the previous Games shall not be placed in the same group. Each team shall play against every other team in its group.
- At the end of the qualifying round, the teams shall be ranked in each group according to the number of match points they obtained (cf. para. 6). In case of a tie, the teams concerned shall be ranked according to the number of matches won minus those lost. If there is still a tie, the teams concerned shall be ranked according to the total number of sets won minus those lost.
- The semi final round shall be played according to the following model, adapted to the number of teams competing:
- Encounter I: the 1st ranked team of Group A vs. the 2nd ranked team of Group B
- Encounter II: the 1st ranked team of Group B vs. the 2nd ranked team of Group A
- Encounter III: the 3rd ranked team of Group A vs. the 4th ranked team of Group B
- Encounter IV: the 3rd ranked team of Group B vs. the 4th ranked team of Group A
- For the final round:
- The winners of Encounters I and II shall play each other for 1st and 2nd places in the competition;
- the losers of Encounters I and II shall play each other for 3rd and 4th places in the competition;
- the winners of Encounters III and IV shall play each other for 5th and 6th places in the competition;
- the losers of Encounters III and IV shall play each other for 7th and 8th places in the competition.
- In case of a tie during a final encounter, the teams concerned shall be ranked as indicated in paragraph 10.
- At the end of each encounter, the chief umpire shall communicate the results to the discipline coordinator, together with the match records duly signed by the team captains.