From the 2008 Olympics game onwards, the ITTF is bringing out a lot of attention towards the thickness of the racket coverings or rubbers. At the Olympics, the players have been warned and asked to use their backup racket after they have failed in the test. Last week at the ERKE Austria Open, two players have been disqualified - Chen Weixing and Skachkov. Their racket covering thickness were above the ITTF permitted level of 4.0 mm.
The ITTF has rules 2.4.3 where it has stated the thickness of a pips in / out rubber (top sheet and sponge) should be within 4.0 mm. The Pips out rubber without a sponge attached should have less than 2.0 mm thickness.
If you use inverted (regular or pips-in) rubbers, it comes with a sponge. The sponge size varies from 1.0 to 2.3 mm. Whatever may be the sponge size, the total thickness of the rubber should be 4.0 mm only.
The pips-out rubbers like short pips, medium pips or long pips comes with a sponge or without a sponge. The height of the pips and the its supporting sheet should not be more than 2.0 mm. The pips-out can have a sponge also which comes as regular inverted rubbers. The total thickess of 4.0 mm applies to such rubbers too.
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