I’m not an anti-Chinese rubber activist. What disappointed me much with Chinese rubbers is it’s quality. I take a new Chinese rubber often to test. A lot of Chinese rubbers has disappointed me except few rubbers like DHS Hurricane II and Hurricane III. I have to admit that the Chinese rubbers fit certain players but it is not for everyone. I like it on a very fast carbon blade. However I don’t use fasterer blade, so I have no luck in using a Chinese rubber regularly.
The TSP rubbers are my favorites. The TSP real, actor, bjorn rubbers are excellent rubbers. Unfortunately these rubbers have not got popularity among the table tennis players in America. The players are lost in the search of speed glue effect rubbers, and the TSP rubbers have been forgot completely. They don’t advertise them as speed glue effect rubbers. Like Butterfly rubbers, the TSP rubbers are fast, spinning and highly controllable.
TSP Summit
The disappointment I had with Chinese rubbers have stopped me for a while to test any Chinese rubber. I have written about Haifu Blue Whale II in Spin Mantra. I had used that rubber for a day only. I turned to TSP Summit for two reasons (1) Higher Quality and (2) Chinese tacky rubber characteristics.
Among the TSP pips-in rubbers, the TSP Summit has the highest spin rating. It is spinier than TSP real and TSP Actor. The sponge is very hard made in Japan. The top sheet is made in China. The Chinese tacky top sheet with Japanese made hard sponge make TSP Summit a choice for table tennis players looking for high quality Chinese rubbers. The quality of TSP Summit is excellent compared to Chinese rubbers come out of China like RITC or DHS.
Speed
The TSP Summit is a tacky rubber for close to table top spin drive and push defense game. The TSP Summit is not a looping rubber. I have tried the TSP Summit on defense+ blades like TSP Yanagi, XIOM Aigis and offensive blades Darker Speed 90. The Darker Speed 90 is an offensive blade like other carbon blades which I thought would work with TSP Summit to generate spinning loops from mid distance. I was unsuccessful.
The TSP Summit has the same speed as a Factory Tuned Haifu Blue Whale II and more speed than DHS Hurricane II.
Spin
The TSP Summit is very spinning. It certainly does not suit a mid-distance top spin game. Being close to the table, the TSP Summit generates high arc top spin drives. The rebound angle is high like TSP Real. The players who love spinning the ball from the top sheet of a rubber will love TSP Summit. The surface of TSP Summit is very tacky - what can you except of a rubber made in China.
Countering
I liked TSP Summit’s close to the table game. What attracted me more was it’s countering ability. I was surprised when I could hit through some top spin loops from my opponent. Being close to the table, hitting knuckle ball was easy. The hard sponge gives the power, and the tacky top spin rotates the ball enough to make TSP Summit a fit for top spin drivers and hitters.
Pushing Defense
The hard sponge of TSP Summit gives power while pushing. Like other Chinese rubbers, the underspin balls can be pushed with open angle of 45 to 90 degree - 90 degree is parallel to the table. This also helps flipping the short underspin to top spin to start the rally.
Rebound Arc
Just like Butterfly Tenergy 05, the TSP Summit generates high arc with a lot of spin. The forward rotation of the ball is high and it makes the opponents to block it easily. The ball jumps higher like Tenergy 05.
Suitable Blades
The blades that can sustain a rubber like TSP Summit are carbon blades. The faster blades will give more speed to the arc. The XIOM Ignito, TSP Hino-Carbon & TSP Hino-Power are suitable rubbers for TSP Summit.
Conclusion
The TSP Summit is a Chinese rubber with excellent quality. The rubber requires good close to the table top spin drive skills. It is not for an intermediate level player. The players who have used soft to medium soft rubbers will be disappointed by TSP Summit’s sponge hardness. The TSP Summit for skilled players.
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