Identification of the sponge is due and overdue.

[pong99]

If the topsheet and sponge has to be certified together this means that all players using modified sponge hardnesses then have to what, get ittf approval for a whole new rubber? What if a player is using a 52.5 degree sponge instead of a commercial 50 degree for example. Are the limitations on all of the exact specs or just on the composition material and formula for the sponge?

When buying rubber at retail, there is variance. A rubber marked 50 is not 50.00000, it is 50 plus/minus a degree or so. What is the tolerance for sponge hardness in the Joola contract with ESN for normal retail product?

Any product for pros can be simply chalked up to normal manufacturing variance. Rubber makers can claim that they make many batches of rubber and simply do a quality sort where they measure individual sponges for sponsored players. Sponge batch X was supposed to be 50 +/- 1, but it came out and tested at 52.5.

 

[Matt Hetherington]

ITTF are not clueless, when all of the pro rubbers have significant variance from the commercial versions they will be very aware that it's not a manufacturing variance. I do wonder whether ITTF intend to force more rubber approvals from brands to collect more fees.

 

[John_]

Sure let's give a reason for manufacturers to raise the price of equipment even more by demanding then to match sponges to top sheets because rubbers are so cheap now. If that happens I'll start drawing them myself on my old rubbers.

 

[pong99]

ITTF are not clueless, when all of the pro rubbers have significant variance from the commercial versions they will be very aware that it's not a manufacturing variance. I do wonder whether ITTF intend to force more rubber approvals from brands to collect more fees.

I can buy Andro Rasanter R37, 42, 47, 48, 50, 53, C45, 48, 53 today - if a pro happens to have 52 or 55 sponge, how can it be said that this is "significant" variance?

BTW, is there any requirement in racket control to take off a players rubber to measure sponge hardness?

Remember the OP of this thread is Igor, so this is probably much ado about nothing, until there are actually official published rules I treat this topic the same as the oily booster detector and ab roller

 

[Tony's Table Tennis]

Igor laughing big time

 

[Matt Hetherington]

I can buy Andro Rasanter R37, 42, 47, 48, 50, 53, C45, 48, 53 today - if a pro happens to have 52 or 55 sponge, how can it be said that this is "significant" variance?

BTW, is there any requirement in racket control to take off a players rubber to measure sponge hardness?

Remember the OP of this thread is Igor, so this is probably much ado about nothing, until there are actually official published rules I treat this topic the same as the oily booster detector and ab roller

There are other tt brands that go less mental on their sponge hardness than Andro haha also it depends what measure would be considerer significant, is it 1.5 deg, is it 3, is it 5 etc

 

[Colestt]

well, it was that way for a long time. Other than the fact that there is a variety, what is the harm in customizing?

 

[Tony's Table Tennis]

well, it was that way for a long time. Other than the fact that there is a variety, what is the harm in customizing?

look at igor, over sensitive to these matters
these are minority

 

[Der_Echte]

How this would apply to me, an amateur player in USA, even in sanctioned tourneys there is no racket control in any events I qualify and play in... even in US Open.

If you are good enough to be elite, then there is a measure of racket control in the higher events like the open division in the US Open and Nationals.

If anyone was to have Cole build them a 999 topsheet with a 2.1-ish thick 35 degree sponge, that would be $12 for a very controllable and spin-able rubber... a veritable bargain.

USA Amateur players are not breaking any morals using a Cole sourced custom built rubber. Players should try out what Cole can provide.

@Colestt is not in this business for big dollars, he loves TT and helping others out. He has been doing this for years and years.

 

[Der_Echte]

The very same snakes who would say No NO NO NO !!!! to the legal and moral attributes of a custom sponge/rubber... these same snakes do NOT speak out against the hundreds of threads on these forums detailing the top-secret methods to boost/tune H3...

Boosting/tuning is clearly against the ITTF laws of TT and there pdf spec sheets...

...but NOOOOOOOO, these snakes advocate for the freedom for players to custom tune performance... or are silent about it... but scream bloody murder about a custom sponge rubber that is not going to provide any significant advantage of performance other than it is a freedom of choice of the player ???!!!

Snakes, you all got ur self-righteous head stuck so far up your tail end, you would need an industrial quality strong winch to pull ur shytty head back outta ur dung hole.

 

[Colestt]

I told Emese my opinion. He continues to say the only concern is to approve how the color of sponge affects the topsheet