Hardbat Classic Tournament: The biggest, baddest $100,000 throwdown in the history of table tennis!
The Hardbat classic tournament is a first of a kind in America. I could not believe such a thing. When I have heard about this for the first time, I thought someone is making a April Fool joke. Things became clearer after that, and it was true. The Hardbat classic event is sponsored by Budlight, a beer company in America. The tournament has some big names behind it like: Anheuser-Busch, buglight, K-Swiss.
I will be volunteer at the 2009 Hardbat Classic tournament. The tournament takes place at the Venetian casino at Las Vegas between June 26 and 28 - just a week before the US Open table tennis tournament. The Killerspin America is the tournament organizer, so the event will have a classic table tennis tournament touch. I have been to many Killerspin events, and I love their events.
The Hardbat Classic tournament has four brackets of players. The first bracket is hardbat classic players invited by Budlight and the Hardbat Classic management. I think these players are selected through some feeder tournaments similar to the World Series of Poker. The Hardbat classic team organizes events at various parts of the country in bars, and select some interesting players into the game. We may see some hollywood and high profile players from this bracket.
Tahl Liebovitz, Dan Seemiller, Sean O’Neal are already in the list of players who have been selected. Rob’s website has some pictures from a regional tournament. Here are some pictures of Hardbat classic regional events took place in some bars in Arizona.
The second bracket of players are for players who have a rating like USATT rating. Unlike various rated events at the US tournaments, the Hardbat Classic will have a handicap matches in this bracket. If a player A rated lower plays a player B who is rated higher, the player A will receive some bonus points at the start of the game.
The third bracket of players are from Bars. The bars having pool tables and ping pong tables bring players into this bracket.
The fourth bracket of players are basement players - players who don’t have exposure to clubs.
I have read some rules of this Hardbat tournament. They are crazy rule. The players have to use the official Hardbat Classic equipments - the players can’t use their own paddles. The coaching is allowed at any point in time - this is going to add more fury to the game. The players can make noise as they do in bars.
HardBat Classic™ is the biggest, baddest throwdown in the history of table tennis. A revival of that sweet sound you only get from a ball being whacked by an old school hardbat.
Place: Venetian in Las Vegas
Date: June 26-28.
Official Equipments: Hardbat Classic Equipments ($45 with free shipping)
Registration: Hardbat Classic Registration
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