I’m not a prophet. I don’t want to be called a liar also. Still, I see the table tennis rubbers that we use are using now are going to have expiry dates, It’s like we see expiry dates on food and drugs. Haven’t you seen “best used before” notice on the food and drug labels? I’m talking about the same.
Seems weird, huh? The ITTF (International Table Tennis Federation) has released a set of rules recently. Here is what the rule says:
“2.04.07 The covering material should be used as it has been authorised by the ITTF without any physical, chemical or other treatment, changing or modifying playing properties, friction, outlook, colour, structure, surface, etc.”
They have banned speed glue which was “bread and butter” for advanced table tennis players. There were two reasons behind that ban. First, it is a health concern. The volatile substances in the speed glue can cause health problems – even cancer. Secondly, the ITTF does not want the rubber to change its characteristics. There are so many ways you can change the characteristics of the table tennis rubber. The players want to add spin and speed through speed glue. Some players put solutions on the top of the rubber to be tackier.
In the year 2007 itself, the rule against speed glue was released but it has become effective only after the Olympics. The manufactures came up with something called boosters which are equivalent to speed glue but does not have VOCs like speed glue has. The ITTF argues the booster will change the characteristics of the rubber, so they have banned boosters also.
In the same battle with ITTF are there defensive players. The ITTF banned all frictionless long pips rubbers. Now, all the long pips rubbers need to carry friction.
In a conversation with Adham Shahara, the ITTF president, I have asked him about situations when the friction long pips rubbers lose the friction by wear – a long pips rubber can lose its friction after few weeks of play. Adham’s answer was a long pips rubber which has lost the friction will be considered as illegal.
How does a long pips player know his long pips rubber has lost the friction? The solution seems to be he has to buy a equipment that can test the friction. There is no instrument out there you can buy to test the friction of a long pips rubber. Even though there is one available, it will cost thousands of dollars. This boils down to the great responsibility from a long pips player’s perspective. He has to discard a long pips rubber that he has used for few weeks and buy a new one. How do we know how long a long pips rubber can keep its friction? That is something a manufacture has to tell the player. Is an expiry date a solution to this mess? I would think so. This will guarantee the players that they have to discard the rubber which does not have the friction and get a new one.
Will this be applicable to pips-in inverted rubbers? It is a gray area to answer that question. The friction rule applies only to the long pips. It does not apply to inverted rubbers. However, an inverted rubber that has been used for few months can change its characteristics – there is less spin, the ball is deader and sometimes it will become faster and unpredictable. What would you expect from a rubber which is few months old than a new one? You can’t predict what the heck the old rubber is going to do. The natural wear is not intentional from the player’s perspective. I can tell you there are players who do all kinds of crazy things on rubbers. How do we detect them and eliminate them?
I presume the current rule changes will lead to manufactures adding expiry dates for rubbers. This makes fair for everyone. But, who is going to pay for it? The price of table tennis rubbers are already rocketing high. I think the players are going to pay high prices for all these changes.
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It is a very interesting article.