SSC CGL 2025 Tier-I · 19 September 2025, Shift 1 · General Awareness · Question 5 of 100

We transcribed this text from the pictures on a candidate's response sheet for this shift; the answer is the key SSC colour-marked on that sheet. Solution last reviewed 11 September 2026.

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SSC does not publish CGL question papers or a public answer key. From 2025 the candidate response sheet prints every question and option as a picture, so the text here is transcribed from those pictures for this shift and checked against them independently; where the layout carries meaning, the picture is shown as well. Each answer is the key SSC colour-marked on that sheet. SSC released a tentative key for challenge and later its final one, both only to candidates behind a login, and the sheet does not say which of the two it carries. The solutions are written by UnlockIAS.

Fill in the blanks: According to official rules, a standard table tennis ball has a diameter of :

(a)38 millimeters
(b)40 millimeters
(c)42 millimeters
(d)44 millimeters

Answer

Why

Correct — B. Law 2.3.1 of the ITTF's Laws of Table Tennis says the ball shall be spherical, with a diameter of 40mm.

The next law fixes its mass at 2.7 g. The 40 mm ball has been the standard since October 2000, when it officially replaced the older 38 mm ball → option (b).

Why the others are wrong

(a)
38 millimeters — 38 mm was the diameter of the older ball. It was officially replaced by the 40 mm ball in October 2000, after the Sydney Olympics.
(c)
42 millimeters — 42 mm is not the regulation size. The Laws of Table Tennis fix the ball at 40 mm across and 2.7 g.
(d)
44 millimeters — 44 mm is larger than the regulation ball. ITTF Law 2.3.1 sets the diameter at 40 mm, and the ball used before 2000 was smaller still, at 38 mm.

Concept

The ITTF, table tennis's world body, sets equipment in its Laws of Table Tennis. Law 2.3 covers the ball: 40 mm across, 2.7 g, white or orange, and matt.

The ball has changed twice in recent decades. The 38 mm ball gave way to the 40 mm ball in October 2000, and ITTF events from July 2014 moved from celluloid to a plastic, or poly, ball.

Key facts

ITTF Law 2.3.1: the ball is spherical, with a diameter of 40 mm.
ITTF Law 2.3.2: the ball weighs 2.7 g.
The 40 mm ball officially replaced the 38 mm ball in October 2000.
The table is 2.74 m long, 1.525 m wide and 76 cm high, with a net 15.25 cm high.

Study next

ITTF equipment laws for the table, net and racketIndian table tennis players such as Manika Batra and Sharath Kamal

Common traps

Choosing 38 mm from an older reference: that size was replaced by 40 mm in October 2000.
Mixing up size and mass: the ball is 40 mm across and weighs 2.7 g.

Here a sport is tested through a number in its rulebook. Table tennis is also asked at 11 Sep 2024, 12:30, GA Q.6, on which World Championships India hosted.

Related PYQs

No directly related past PYQ was found.