Technical and tactical diagnosis model of table tennis matches based on BP neural network

BACKGROUND: The technical and tactical diagnosis of table tennis is extremely important in the preparation for competition which is complicated by an apparent nonlinear relationship between athletes’ performance and their sports quality. The neural network model provides a high nonlinear dynamic processing ability and fitting accuracy that may assist in the diagnosis of table tennis players’ technical and tactical skill. The main purpose of this study was to establish a technical and tactical diagnosis model of table tennis matches based on a neural network to analyze the influence of athletes’ techniques and tactics on the competition results. METHODS: A three-layer Back Propagation (BP) neural network model for table tennis match diagnosis were established. A Double Three-Phase evaluation method produced 30 indices that were closely related to winning table tennis matches. A data sample of 100 table tennis matches was used to establish the diagnostic model (n = 70) and evaluate the predictive ability of the model (n = 30). RESULTS: The technical and tactical diagnosis model of table tennis matches based on BP neural network had a high-level of prediction accuracy (up to 99.997%) and highly efficient in fitting (R(2) = 0.99). Specifically, the technical and tactical diagnosis results indicated that the scoring rate of the fourth stroke of Harimoto had the greatest influence on the winning probability. CONCLUSION: The technical and tactical diagnosis model of table tennis matches based on BP neural network was highly accurate and efficiently fit. It appears that the use of the model can calculate athletes’ technical and tactical indices and their influence on the probability of winning table tennis matches. This, in turn, can provide a valuable tool for formulating player’s targeted training plans. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s13102-021-00283-3.