all about Blue Sponges

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Hi GUYS! :D... It's me again..... I just wanted to ask you guys if using an inverted rubber with a blue sponge legal? Because some of those who I know are telling me that it is not.... and they said that one of their friends weren't able to play at a tournament because of having a rubber with a blue sponge......

Oh... and by the way My blue sponge inverted rubber is DHS H3 national team rubber
 
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Those people are talking rubbish
white sponge, green sponge, blue sponge, orange sponge, black sponge, cream colour sponge etc is all legal

Ask them to show you where in the ITTF Law it says blue sponge is illegal. If he can find it, then please show this to Chinese national team too
 
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Those people are talking rubbish
white sponge, green sponge, blue sponge, orange sponge, black sponge, cream colour sponge etc is all legal

Ask them to show you where in the ITTF Law it says blue sponge is illegal. If he can find it, then please show this to Chinese national team too


Ah.... tnx.... Was just wondering about that... still tnx for the info :).. GodBless sir!!! :)
 
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Ah.... tnx.... Was just wondering about that... still tnx for the info :).. GodBless sir!!! :)

Your welcome.
And just to give you some extra facts, so you can go and teach those people some lessons :p

The only law relating to sponge is that the entire rubber must not exceed 4mm in height
Only law on topsheet is that it needs to be ITTF approved list (on the racket covering list), and of red or black in colour.
Any combination of sponge and top sheet is legal - providing that it meets the above 2 requirements.
 
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The color of the sponge is not an issue. The color of the topsheet is the only thing regulated. You have to have a red side and a black side. The topsheets have to be red or black and you have to have one of each. The sponge underneath can be any color.

And Tony's post about them finding the rule in the ITTF rulebook is a good one. I would tell them they should try to find that rule in the ITTF manual. And, also, as Tony says, ask them how the Chinese National Team players could get away with using it in major tournaments if it was against the rules. And show them the ITTF approved sign and registration on the rubber and ask them how it has that if it is not legal.
 
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There was a proposal years ago to ban using dark colour sponge with red rubber to avoid any colour variation because of the transparency of red top sheet. That did not materialize but cause enough confusion. I believe DHS simply won't use blue sponge on their red rubber to play safe and not risking any rubber suddenly turned illegal.
 
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where did they pull that rubbish from?

Surely they know how to read and understand that the only law regarding sponge and topsheet is that it must be not more than 4mm and 1 side black and other side red.

Maybe they were trying to put you into a miserable state because you had a good expensive rubber and were feeling envious.

but you never know.
 
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"I just wanted to ask you guys if using an inverted rubber with a blue sponge legal? Because some of those who I know are telling me that it is not.... and they said that one of their friends weren't able to play at a tournament because of having a rubber with a blue sponge"

That is ridiculous man. Whoever said those do not know the ITTF rules or maybe they are not even competition players to begin with? I've used blue sponge H3 at the recent world tour in Subic and it was allowed. This is the first time I've heard that someone playing with blue sponge rubbers were not allowed to play.


Sent from my iPhone 5 using Tapatalk
 
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"I just wanted to ask you guys if using an inverted rubber with a blue sponge legal? Because some of those who I know are telling me that it is not.... and they said that one of their friends weren't able to play at a tournament because of having a rubber with a blue sponge"

That is ridiculous man. Whoever said those do not know the ITTF rules or maybe they are not even competition players to begin with? I've used blue sponge H3 at the recent world tour in Subic and it was allowed. This is the first time I've heard that someone playing with blue sponge rubbers were not allowed to play.


Yeah,,, and even I cant believe of what they were saying,, and that mad me confused like,,, if am I gonna pursue to Buy the H3 Blue Sponge that I've been wanting for long or not..... that's why I came here to approach you guys O:))
 
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2.04.06 The surface of the covering material on a side of the blade, or of a side of the blade if it is left uncovered, shall be matt, bright red on one side and black on the other.

This is the only law that states blue sponge may not be used with transparent red rubber. Typically in the Bluefire and Xiom case their rubbers are not transparent so they need not worry about the blue/black sponge. The Chinese brands tend to be more transparent and thus need lighter colored sponges with their red topsheets. That's the only rule that holds exception to what people have said above so as long as you don't have a red H3 sheet with blue sponge (which I don't believe is even manufactured by dhs), you're good to go.
 
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Basically the issue is with regards the transparency of red topsheets with darker colour sponges. That's why the famous (original only) blue sponge H3 only comes in black topsheets, so there is no colour variation whatsoever.

The reason he might have denied participation at the tournament it's because he rubber is either a fake or not ITTF approved.

http://www.ittf.com/_front_page/ittf1.asp?category=rubber

This is the link which contains equipment approved by ITTF and can be used on official tournaments.
 
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a lot of umpires in minor events here at the philippines dose not even know basic rules. i had an experience when the umpire wont allow serves that are not cross court in SINGLES :(

Is this real life? You gotta be kidding man.

How did the situation go? Did you have to show him the rules?
 
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my coached talked to the committee. apparently most of the umpires were just teachers forced to umpire and had to get a crash course in the rules.

This is very normal
Not sure why people are even surprised.

If this is an ITTF sanctioned, or approved tournament, of course the umpires will be properly trainined.
Otherwise, any small event, the technical know how of the rules has always been a huge problem.

For example, I wasn't allowed to even call time out, the other coach/teacher complained to the umpire that they have never heard of this before.

I am surprised they even know about the different colour sponges and even suggesting blue is illegal. Now where did that come from
 
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a lot of umpires in minor events here at the philippines dose not even know basic rules. i had an experience when the umpire wont allow serves that are not cross court in SINGLES :(
yap...and that's frustrating for me as a school coach and umpire too...i don't know if they are updated or not or just ignore the rules just because they wanted somebody to win...
 
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