OOAK Table Tennis Forum

Thanks for this question. Here are the answers to the best of my knowledge:
1. I received all of the official reports and from the reports it is clear that several errors occurred on all sides. These errors occurred because of interference of too many people who should not be involved in racket testing nor at the racket control station. This will be corrected in the future. Also the player himself made some errors, probably unintentional. At the end, the decision taken is correct. The fact is that the player used a racket that was illegal. Based on all the reports I received and based on the details in the report this incident could have been avoided and we will make sure that the process is fre of any unnecessary interference in the future. It is also clear that the final decision of the Referee is correct and according to the facts at hand.

2. There is really no tolerance for the 4mm thickness, however, the measuring device itself, like any precise measuring devices has a built-in tolerance range. In this case I believe it is in the order of 0.04 mm or less.

3. No I can not confirm what was said about Timo Ball. The reports I received were only about Adrian Crisan. According to the racket tests Timo Ball's racket coverings were legal.

4. No, it's not true. In fact the error occurred because Crisan assumed that his own racket was fixed and could be used, in fact it's his teammates racket that was OK. he intended to start the match with his teammate's racket, just play one point and then default. But in a state of confusion, interference from several third parties he ended up playing with his own racket which was of course illegal before and after the match.

5. I had no contact with Adrian Crisan himslef. I had extensive contact with his brother through e-mails. In the e-mails I gave advice to his brother, and the last e-mail I received from the brother he indicated that Adrian thanked me for my involvement. I did NOT get involved in the incident, I just explained matters to Adrian's brother and explained what were his options (protest, etc.). According to ITTF Rules the decision of the Referee is final. I never interfere with decisions of umpires, Referees or tournament officials.

6. It is normal that in the transition period there will be such incidents. All parties will learn from this incident. This is a positive thing. Of course not for Adrian Crisan who was disqualified. The lessons to learn are:
- that the player himself, like in all sports, must be responsible for his/her own equipment.
- equipment companies should not interfere in the process
- the racket controller needs additional professional and volunteer help
- rackets are still being prepared without sufficient care to meet ITTF rules
- the racket testing method is becoming very accurate and very strict
- very few rackets are failing the racket test
- a 5 page detailed message will be sent to all national associations and will be posted to the ITTF web-site probably tomorrow regarding racket control, VOC ban, use of illegal additives, etc.

IMO, we are heading in the right direction.

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Adham Sharara

Speed Glue is a generic term used by many, but in fact there were several generations of the so-called speed glue. First, the glues used such as Tip-Top were highly toxic and even cancerous. These were used ofr some time because they were not known to the ITTF officials at that time. When the toxicity became apparent, the ITTF in 1993 tried to ban them completely. This did not work because of the lack of testing equipment and because if opposition from many national associations. Instead, a 2nd generation of glue was allowed, which could not contain the most toxic solvents (Tueolene, Hexane, etc.). These glues were tested and the ITTF approved those that did not contain those solvents. The testing method was using the Draeger Tube to detect specifically the 3 or 4 banned solvents. This was circa 1994. Since then the debate about toxic compounds and solvents in glue continued. Finally in 2004 the ITTF decided to ban all harmful volatile compounds (VCs). It took 4 years to finally implement the rule and reach a 3rd generation of water-based or VOC-free glues.

The ITTF's role is to make the rules and have methods to detect those that do not follow the rules. Unfortunately, manufacturers may not have taken this matter seriously enough because the implementation date was delayed twice (2006 delayed to 2007 and then delayed to 2008). So, I do not blame them or the players for not being ready with proper legal alternate glues. Now it seems that everyone is working hard to adapt to the new regulations. We will have a rough transition period, but I am optimistic that all will fall into place soon.

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Adham Sharara

Thanks. Here are the answers:
1. There is no such proposal. However, as you may or may not know, there are very special and popular events in Japan using the 44mm ball for women and young children. There are tournaments and special events with thousands of participants. It is extremely popular. However, I find that the ball is very slow and soft. So, I thought of a similar idea but with a 42 mm ball. This is not to replace the 40mm but to try out the effects of a 42 mm ball (in between the 40mm and the 44mm). The important factor for the "feel" when you play is not so much the size of the ball, but rather the combination of size and weight.

2. The Swiss Table Tennis Association has indicated that they may propose a higher net at the next AGM in April 2009. We do not know yet whether they would or not. In any case, any such proposals, like in the past, takes several years to pass. We need to do tests, experiments and then experimental events and then and evaluation and finally a recommendation for all to vote. The 40mm ball took 5 years to be passed (1995-2000). You should know that the original height of the net used to be higher than today. The net was lowered because of matches lasting many hours in the era of hard rubber and defensive styles.

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Adham Sharara

I assume you mean the European Champions League. This is NOT an ITTF event. This event is under the authority of the European Table tennis Union (www.ettu.org). To be honest I do not follow this event because I live in Canada.

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Adham Sharara

The matter is now in court. It's best to wait for the final decision of the court.

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Adham Sharara

I'm Sorry, but I think this has all been synthesised, I posted a reply for Adam but it has been deleted, Is this going to be deleted? You cannot have an open forum that is subject to censorship' is this not an open forum, what is the point? Lets all pretend then???? we all love Adam Shahara, because he posts on OOAK. Are you gonna delete this Haggis? Or not??? ???????, I really think you should 'think' about It.
Dark horse..

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the covers blown, mission over

No I won't delete it, but I will delete/edit any comments that are crude or personal (as outlined in the "purpose of this section thread"), as it's not constructive to the discussions. I explained to you personally why I deleted your comments (as I always do for anyone)... I thought you accepted that...

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oh no, crude, not me, personal, not me either, Sensitive, YES, Is that not what we are about?

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the covers blown, mission over

Seeing as people have asked me what was in the offensive post, that was so offensive, I would like to offer the bad bits. The words 'back stabbing' and 'brown tongue' were included, so I guess Haggisv was right to delete that post, although nothing was directly aimed at Adam, just a hint to reality. Did you know, the Queen thinks that the world smell of fresh paint?

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the covers blown, mission over

Dear Adham,

Just a short question please.
I understand that boosters and tuners have been illegal because of containing VOC.

What about water speed glue "tempo unlimited" by Falco ?
Does it meet the new requirements ? Can we use it even if it has speed glue effects ?

Thank you.
Rudy

Rudy I think Adham has already answered your question in a post on page 2 of this thread. I cut the bit out and reposted here. There is a bit more in that thread that talks about not being able to alter the rubber after ITTF approval, which any booster does, whether water-based or VOC based.

Hope this helps. Welcome to the forum btw.

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Hi Adam.

IMO, There has been more radical rule changes over the last few yrs than ever before in TT under your watch. Are you worried at all that you may be stiffling innovation and diversity in Table tennis by limiting equipment use, which as a knock on limits the diversity of playing styles. We are unlikely to have a 'John Hilton' style innovative champion in the future, do you consider that to be a good or bad thing? Many grass roots players also feel that the ITTF, when making rule changes, only look at the feasibility of implementation of a said rule, at the top end of the sport, examples being The 'clean' service rule (two umpires needed really) and the speedglue ban. If the real issue with VOC containing glue is health based, the real dangers are surely at the grass roots level of the sport, an area which is almost impossible to police. I understand that Vulcanising glue is not made in a Huge number of factories around the world, would it be an good idea to have the manufacturers add a trace dye to ALL vulcanising glues?

Thanks in anticipation.

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the covers blown, mission over

Or a Des Douglas, Carl Prean, Eric Boggan, Dan Seemiller, Jacques Secretin, Herbert Neubauer or even Eberhard Schöler.

The game has lost a lot of interesting styles.

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In fact there has beem only 4 main changes to the rules in the last 9 years since I became president, and one of them was started before my presidency (40mm ball) by the previous president Mr. Xu Yinsheng. So, let's recap:
- 40mm ball started in 1995 passed in 2000
- 11-ponts games, started in 1997 passed in 2001
- Open service rule, started in 1999 passed in 2002
- VOC-free glues, started in 1993 passed fully in 2004, implemented in 2008

Then we had a year ago some adjustments and clarifications on equipment with the minimum friction level of pimpled rubbers to 25mN. That's it. The strict enforcement of the thickness of the rubber covering (4mm) is not new, it is strictly enforced to detect altered rubber. The ban on Tuners and Boosters is not new. They were never legal because they alter the rubber. We are just stricter in enforcing these rules.

You are right, the ITTF's rules are for the international level. This is true. Because that is the mandate of the ITTF. Just like the FIFA rules are fr the international level. When you play local soccer in a recreational league do you have a certified Referee and 2 linesmen? You are lucky if you have a volunteer Referee. When you play local Basketball do you have 2 referees? Is the offside rule implemented when kids play soccer or when kids play Ice-Hockey. All sports are like that. You have the International Rules, and then you have the variety of local applications. At the lower levels you must use the "honour system". I played in a local soccer league for years (until I broke my leg) and I spent a lot of time telling the players, please just accept the honour system and play for fun. Some do, some think thay are playing in the Mundial and want to win at all costs.

I believe that the rules the ITTF has passed in the last 10 years or so were necessary and have kept the sport alive.

As for the diversity, I would challenge anybody to find another sport that has the diversity in the personal equipment used. Let's just list them:
Inverted rubber, tacky inverted rubber, Anti-spin inverted rubber, shiny inverted rubber, short pimples, long pimples, high friction, low friction, straight hard pimples, bending long pimples, various density of pimples, soft sponge, hard sponge, 1mm, 1.5mm, 2mm, 2.5 mm, tension rubber, spring effect rubber, high density sponge, low density sponge, black, red, wood blade with 3 plies, 5 plies, 7 plies, fast hard wood, slow soft wood, 85% wood and 15% composite, carbon fibre, all sorts of types of wood, and all types of handles. Wow, what more do we need? Can you find another sport with so much variety and could be different on FH and BH ??? Tennis? Squash? Badminton? they do not even come near, for starters they are limited to the same thing on FH and BH. Sothe answer to your question is "No, I am not worried". Just take a look at the list of ITTF Authorized Racket Coverings (over 1,000) and you will realize that the variety is plenty.

Now about styles, if you just look at the Chinese national Team and compare the top players: Ma Lin (pen-holder, counter-attack, close and far from table), Wang Hao (pen-holder top-spin player, close to the table, topspins also from BH), Wang-liqin (shake-hand far from the table topspin from both sides) and what about Timo Ball (close to the table attack), Michael Maze (far from the table lob), Yoo, Ryu, Mizutani, Samsonov, Schlager, Kreanga, Hoyama, Toriola, etc., all different styles. In each era of table tennis you may have different styles and te games evolves according to the top players that play it.

Regarding your idea of dye in the glue, please send me a private e-mail to [email protected] and explain in detail what you mean. Thanks.

Adham

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Adham Sharara

Adham, With all due respect, I would call the frictionless ban, speed glue ban and booster ban far more than minor adjustments. Those are major rule changes that have impacted many thousands of players in a negative way -- from the top pros to amateurs at all levels.

And what about the unnecessary changes in net height and in pip aspect ratio? Quite major I'd say.

It's certainly debatable whether all these bans "were necessary" and "have kept the sport alive" when so many have been hurt or wouldn't care either way.

As far as "the game evolving around the top players that play it" that's because the changes lopsidedly favor top-spinners. Innovations that have helped defensive players utilizing underspin as a weapon have been systematically legislated out of existence by ITTF rule changes.

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The MNNB Blog has had some pretty amazing stuff lately. Just click this text to check it out. | My OOAK Interview
Table Tennis Video Links: itTV | laola1.tv | ttbl | fftt | Challenger Series | mnnb-tv

My whole set-up costs less than a sheet of Butterfly Dignics