Booster legalization proposed

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There are no current procedures nor is their any equipment in place to discourage players from treating their coverings with chainsaws.

I sm not making this up.

But if the current proposal to the ITTF passes, players can boost their rubbers with whatever non-VOC booster they feel will float their boat.

Chempong. To paraphrase a line from Robert Burns' A Man's a Man For a' That, "The Man (Mann, or troll) o' independent mind, he looks and laughs at a' that."

I bet you're so contra because the speed glue snoopery has taken it's toll
 
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There was a boy died from sniffing table tennis speed glue in Japan (thus JTTA's strong stance against any speed glues/boosters) so the effect on one's health is valid. Sharara's credibility, I'm not so sure.

Again speed glue abd booster aren't the same thing. Sharara did conflate them later.
 
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(zero). It was unfortunate Sharara described it as racket-doping.

(bjgmann). Yes, that was unfortunate. How should Sharara have described speed gluing? Enhancing a racket's performance characteristics?

(zeio). Though the VOC part was bad, speed gluing was an equalizer, as some would have put it.

(bjgmann). Yes the VOC part was bad. Very very bad. So bad that cans of speed glue had warnings advising children not to use the stuff. Speedgluing an equalizer though? Huh? In what sense? That you had an equal chance of winning or getting beat if you speed glued?

(zeio). One big argument over outlawing after-market boosters is that it essentially puts those players from associations with lesser resources at a major disadvantage.

(bjgmann). Yeahboy. If your association doesn't have a Ministry of Sport or big bucks in its slush fund players from your association with lesser resources are necessarily gonna be at a major disadvantage.

Face it. Life ain't fair. And competitive table tennis is even more unfairer than life.
XGhU3fS.jpg


Competitive sandpaper ping pong is even more fairer than hardbat.

What now?
 
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Below were the proposed amendments to T4. The wording can't get any clearer. In only 10 months' time, the ITTF is going to backtrack on its long-time stance against after-market boosting?

Proposed by the ITTF Equipment Committee
To amend Technical Leaflet T4 for Racket Coverings (update)
Rationale for Changes in T4, 2017
...
• Page 11: Companies that sell boosters should not be permitted to have ITTF authorized equipment.
Boosting is an illegal practice, and companies that sell the boosters are enabling and encouraging players to do this. At the same time, those companies are able to use the fact that they produce boosters for a special marketing advantage that can make their products seem more appealing. For example (these are not actual statements they have made):
o “Our rubbers are specially formulated to be used with our boosters.”
o “If you like our boosters, you can buy our rubbers that are pre-boosted to save you the trouble of boosting.”
o “If you like our rubbers but want something slightly different, just buy our booster and use it on a different rubber.”
Furthermore, as a general principle, the ITTF should avoid association with companies that encourage practices that violate ITTF rules.

10. Player's responsibilities
...Use of post-factory treatments is not permitted and may cause the racket covering to exceed the permitted thickness, friction, pimple density, etc.
 
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Below were the proposed amendments to T4. The wording can't get any clearer. In only 10 months' time, the ITTF is going to backtrack on its long-time stance against after-market boosting?

Of course they will have to change the T4! You can not have a technical leaflet in contradiction to the law. The EC is behind the proposal - they can not break the law!! There are several options on "how to" change it, including authorisation.

Probably someone should tweak the text in a way that allows booster/tuning, but not other treatment or change.
 
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Competitive sandpaper ping pong is even more fairer than hardbat.

What now?

Could be. And light years more fairer than soon to be mandated chempong featuring to each his or her own booster on top of an already boosted (or maybe not) wham-bam
spin to high Heaven smooth stuff for four or five shots or down here on Earth bamboozle 'em with pips or anti- from the neither regions of Hell.

Besides playing with sandpaper requires true grit (preferably around 240 grain or thereabouts).

What now? A WCPP 2018 World Platinum Tour. Possibility No. 2: Historically informed hard bat table tennis. Today's best hard bat players, incorporating the scholarship of the worldwide early music performance movement, endeavor to recapture the beauty, charisma and panache that was classic table tennis.
 
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One thing to bear in mind is that ITTF has a long history of ignoring the recommendations of their own Athlete's Commission. But new people run the show now so we shall see.
 
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Of course they will have to change the T4! You can not have a technical leaflet in contradiction to the law. The EC is behind the proposal - they can not break the law!! There are several options on "how to" change it, including authorisation.

Probably someone should tweak the text in a way that allows booster/tuning, but not other treatment or change.
That's why I have a hard time interpreting the new proposal as legalization of booster. They could've just removed the passages in T4 to start with instead of this. Adding that phrase won't do anything. They could still claim after-market boosting is considered harmful.
 
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That's why I have a hard time interpreting the new proposal as legalization of booster. They could've just removed the passages in T4 to start with instead of this. Adding that phrase won't do anything. They could still claim after-market boosting is considered harmful.

Here is a rare time when I disagree with Zeio. The phrase "harmful or unhealthy for the persons" would certainly allow a large number of substances which can produce some boosting effect. To list a few, there are baby oil, paraffin, eucalyptus oil, citrus oils, etc. They may not be quite as good as the latest Dianchi formulation but still work, and also the commercially sold boosters are probably not too different from these if we actually knew what the formulation was.

I hope they listen to the players this time. I suspect some of the rubber manufacturers will lobby against it because it would cut into the profits they make from adding these substances to sponge at the factory.
 
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In an entry by Japanese magazine Table Tennis Kingdom, it is reported that the proposal could be withdrawn.

It's said that opposition from ESN has been getting stronger by the day. German TTA has expressed its disapproval for the proposal. JTTA has remained silent on the issue. The Executive Committee and Athlete Commission are expected to withdraw the proposal.
 
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In an entry by Japanese magazine Table Tennis Kingdom, it is reported that the proposal could be withdrawn.

It's said that opposition from ESN has been getting stronger by the day. German TTA has expressed its disapproval for the proposal. JTTA has remained silent on the issue. The Executive Committee and Athlete Commission are expected to withdraw the proposal.

I imagine, a high tension rubbers producers would probably loose some market ...?
 
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Of all manufacturers, why would ESN, which relies so much on booster, be against the proposal?

Like I've written before, that rule if passed means the ITTF will have to define what is considered harmful. The folks will then need to create an approval list of boosters not unlike the LARC. That could be used by the ITTF to impose additional approval fees on manufacturers, when they are already doing the same thing right now without paying any fees.

That's exactly why I insisted that the whole thing doesn't make sense. Equipment Committee just got the no-aftermarket-booster amendments to the T4 passed last year. Why would the Executive Committee and Athlete Commission suggest something that goes against that will in less than a year? There are likely 2 opposing factions within the ITTF. Something fishy is going on.
 
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Of all manufacturers, why would ESN, which relies so much on booster, be against the proposal?

Like I've written before, that rule if passed means the ITTF will have to define what is considered harmful. The folks will then need to create an approval list of boosters not unlike the LARC. That could be used by the ITTF to impose additional approval fees on manufacturers, when they are already doing the same thing right now without paying any fees.

That's exactly why I insisted that the whole thing doesn't make sense. Equipment Committee just got the no-aftermarket-booster amendments to the T4 passed last year. Why would the Executive Committee and Athlete Commission suggest something that goes against that will in less than a year? There are likely 2 opposing factions within the ITTF. Something fishy is going on.

Interesting. But if boosting was legal, I imagine many people would turn to the cheaper rubbers like good old srivers ... ?
 
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Booster is not to be confused with gluing. The difference is night and day. As things stand, people have been boosting their rubbers for years, whether boosting is legal or not. Many of the folks at my club were boosting Sriver when gluing was first banned, but soon they all moved on to Tenergy and ESN offerings. Why? Price and performance. Sriver doesn't respond well to boosters. Porous rubbers simply played better.
 
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I want to see it passed as well. I want to see what they're really up to and how they will handle the contradiction in T4.
 
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"Juice" - that's my name at the club because I'm the booster (juice) guy everyone comes to with all the questions. Can you do my tenergy... hurricane...mxp...etc. I don't mind at all of they legalize it. Finally the average guy can do to the rubber what manufacturers do. And when the manufacturers tuning wares of, we can retune the rubber without the moral conflict of legal vs illegal.
 
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