Players lost the option to change sponge on the sandwich rubbers. T4 revision.

SANDWICH RUBBERS. A new regulation is underway.
ITTF always looking to keep up fair play with players worldwide and, with the object in mind, ITTF ultimately determined on how to effectively prevent the use of no-name, homemade and substandard sponge for major competitions, that:The revised T4 document has a new provision as follows
— Sandwich covering shall be a permanent combination of a topsheet and a sponge layer.
This implies that nor player nor manufacturer may alter the original composition of sandwich rubber. The sponge incorporated into sandwich covering ought to bear factory "label of identity" on its open side/ Players are forbidden of using a sponge sheet without the ID sign..https://clck.ru/h3SrD

Originally Posted by haggisv

I can't see how that's in the interest of players. I CAN see how that's in the interest of the ITTF though; e.g. a rubber which was released with the 3 different sponge hardnesses only required a single fee for ITTF approval... with this new regulation it will require 3 fees for approval.

money talks

is this a joke?

Originally Posted by pingpongpaddy

is this a joke?

Thats been my way of reading igor's post for years, and I see things haven't changed today