No doubt about that but it’s better than the current rules now where players can’t boost their rubbers themselves while manufacturers are allowed to boost.
At least there is a little bit of control to the boosting process if they allow certain boosters only but players can still use boosters outside that certified list but would need to hide their use of those boosters whereas if players use from
a certified list they would not need to hide their boosting usage. They could openly talk about their use of boosters in videos without any penalties compared to now.
It will shift the problem and create new grey areas:
Pro players would be allowed to talk about boosting using certified products, but since we're already paranoid about pro players not using market versions of blades and rubbers, now we'll get paranoid about pro players using special boosters that us mortals can't access.
Next. you will get issues in the amateur space. There are already stupid discussions about whether a rubber is on the ITTF LARC list or not, same with balls (I don't get why there is a discussion in the first place as the lists are easy to access) and some people will find it quite unfair to be finding out on match night that their favourite rubber for years has been dropped off the list. But for rubbers, you can actually tell them apart by their designs.
For booster, there's no way of telling whether you boosted with agent A or agent B. And if a way is to be found, it will be destructive. In all honesty, it's the same for whether you used water based glue or something with a different solvent, and as long as your bat isn't producing noxious fumes I couldn't care less what you glued it with.
And in the pro space, you will end up with more destructive bat checks (in order to sample the boosted sponge) IF that is even possible, because since factory boosting is already allowed your privately applied booster could have been mixing with god-knows-what to create god-knows-what effect.
Also, in order to get a certain booster certified, you need to have full disclosure of their contents. Booster makers don't seem to be happy to share their secrets.
In all honesty, banning booster altogether is easier to control than allowing certain boosters. And I don't even think the current stance of "as long as you're not above health hazard limits" is all that bad, except for the simple, stupid fact they put that line in that says we're not allowed to alter our rubbers *at all*. The only realistic options would be to allow everything, or nothing.
