Q. Why must table tennis teams leave their paddles on the table during timeouts?

A. So that match officials know that that paddle is the one that stays in play throughout the match, said Dick Evans, an international umpire and president of the USA Table Tennis Hall of Fame Board of Directors.

He said in the past, there were problems with players changing paddles after games. A player could go over to the sideline to talk to the coach and change without anyone seeing.

"It could give them an unfair advantage because the paddle they changed to might have been very different in playing characteristics than the one they started with," he said.

The rule has been in place for about 10 years, according to Marius Widmer, media coordinator for the International Table Tennis Federation.

Players can change paddles if theirs is accidentally broken but can only replace it with an identical paddle, said Evans. He said players carry three of four of the same paddles in case this happens.