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While I agree in principle, discussions on politics can be highly divisive since it's a topic that people are usually very passionate about. This often leads to heated discussions and personal attacks. This can be very tough and time-consuming for the moderators, so they'll have to decide if...

Yes I fully agree, a really good point!

It's not really an ethical issue, it's a business transaction where you sign a contract and agree to the terms. Brands can set their own terms and condition, there is no 'standard' sponsorship deal. I agree with you though, that if you agree to use their equipment and then use something else...

Yes splitting along the grain is the big risk. Foam edge tape can help as well, but if you hit the table hard enough you can still split the blade... both the epoxy or foam edge tape only providing limited protection.

Which Butterfly cleaner was that?

Exactly, if there's no ITTF logo they're doing nothing wrong, and they're perfectly fine for any play that does not abide by ITTF rules.

With the right technique the Tenergy 05 setup will be a lot faster, so perhaps you're not really looping the ball but hitting mostly flat? The extra spin that you get on the Tenergy 05 setup is what makes your 'hits' land easier... even a little topspin curves the ball down on the table.

With topspin you're digging the ball into the rubber harder, so you're more likely to get a bit more grip which can produce some topspin (won't be much either). Regardless, neither are percentage shots and will take a lot of practice to get proficient. So while it's fun to experiment and can...

I don't have much experience with that one, but it's almost frictionless so it's not going to have enough grip to create heavy backspin. Best option would be to learn to twiddle, so you can create heavy backspin with your grippy inverted. Of course backspin is what you want from your opponent...

You'll need some grip on your anti to do this. Which anti are you using?

It's no different to having hard or soft topsheets on inverted rubbers, it affects it's characteristics. There are many other characteristics that the affect the performance too, so you can't base your decision just on the pimple hardness. Generally the softer ones grab the ball more easily so...

A very insightful post Tony! 👏

I'm not how you meant that, but anti-spin and long pimple probably would not exist if it wasn't for the high-spin rubbers.

Is the Mantra series their most popular rubber? None of the Stiga rubbers are very popular here.

I think you give the manufacturers a bit too much credit. The phrase "designed for plastic balls" is mostly a a marketing term used by the major brands to sell their more recent products, T05 is a high spin rubber, both for celluloid and plastic, and there's nothing to say that you can't use it...

I don't know of current players using it, but I don't really keep up to date with this. Yes you may be right, Joo was using it with celluloid balls, but he also used p1-r with celluloid balls.

Grass Dtecs with a sponge is very suitable for chopping, even the great JSH used it for a while.

Those rubbers are pretty linear, but the blade is quite flexy and has quite a bit of a kick. I wonder if that's what you're experiencing?

It's quite common for the smaller Chinese manufacturer to outsource the manufacturing of their rubbers, and they would likely pick the cheapest quote at any one time. As a result, you'll get cheap rubber which might be really good, but it can vary hugely depending in which factory made it. I...

Just because D05 is a more recent rubber, doesn't mean it's superior in every way compared to T05. If T05 works better for you, stick with it, it's an excellent rubber.