Even though I am reasonably sure that Blahness posted about use of two rackets just to troll (by his own admission) and to further belittle pips player, I sort of agree with Blahness .
I am sure the current ITTF rules do not allow the use of two rackets however mostly due to the free hand definition & the rules say “racket” and not “rackets”
But I see no reason why ITTF cannot change the rules and allow one racket in each hand. Just because it had been done traditionally one way does not always mean new ideas & concepts cannot be accepted into the rules if it will benefit the sport overall.
Of course the idea initially does seem absurd & bizarre but then again you can say the same thing about the conceptual definition of a “free hand” in table tennis. Afterall every human has a weak side & strong side on their dominant hand but yet they are allowed to use both forehand & backhand. So why can’t I use the weak hand to reach for balls that are too far to reach using my stronger hand. You see some ambidextrous players switching hands and doing this. Or some players even play behind the back returns.
Also I may have a totally different playing style with my weaker hand compared to my dominant hand.
But the biggest advantages of changing the rules to allow to rackets are
1. As strange & goofy as it may seem at first, the shock value in bringing attention to a struggling sport like tabletennis Is worth the change as this is a drastic change.. It will become less and less bizarre as time passes & gains more acceptance. After all mixed gender team events in sports for example were not considered acceptable only till recently.
2. Think about the opportunity for manufacturers. They will nearly double their sales instantly . I am not all trying to be funny but that is the truth
It is not difficult to deal with free hand concept. It fact two racket hands will probably eliminate some issues with serves such as need to have the ball in the palm .& finger spins etc if a player has to hold the ball in between the two rackets and toss at least say a feet or so.
Of course you do NOT have to use two rackets. You can always just use one racket if that is more convenient to you
Playing using two rackets in other sports has been discussed on the web. Especially tennis.
But this is not very practical (but possible) for other racket sports since rackets are bigger. But it is more practical in table tennis & if table tennis allows this other sports may follow suit regardless
And I am sure there are many exhibition matches (& videos) where two professional players use two rackets at the same time
I saw at least one video on YoiTube of a player using a racket in each hand. He was holding the ball between the two rackets to toss the ball.
Of course there is always the incredibly inspirational Ibrahim Hamadtou below