Assessing Cognitive–Motor Performance in Table Tennis: Validity and Reliability of the Reactive Table Tennis Test

Table tennis (TT) is a high-speed sport requiring integrated cognitive and motor skills. However, the existing assessment tools have failed to replicate its sport-specific demands. Therefore, this study aimed to evaluate the validity and reliability of the Reactive Table Tennis test designed to assess cognitive–motor performance in TT. Sixty athletes were recruited from TT, combat sports (CS), team sports (TS), and track and field (TF). Participants were required to react to 10 visual stimuli randomly emitted from three devices placed 3 m frontally by performing 1.5 m lateral or frontal displacements. Athletes passed through a timing gate using either both hands (B) or only one hand (O) under two conditions: with consecutive stimulus presentation (C) and with a 0.8 s delay between stimuli (D), simulating the typical inter-shot time observed during the rallies. Each participant completed three trials per condition on three non-consecutive days. Results showed the highest reliability under the delayed conditions (ICCBD = 0.969; ICCOD = 0.961), along with lower coefficients of variation than for the consecutive conditions. TT players performed significantly faster (p < 0.05) than other athletes under BD, OD, and BC but not under OC conditions. The mean of three trials is recommended for more accurate assessments. The proposed test proved to be a valid and reliable tool, especially under the both hand-delay condition, and is suitable for large-scale use in TT.