OOAK Table Tennis Forum

On the 22nd and 23rd of June was held the "Tournoi des Culs Salés" ("Salted Asses Tournament" ) in Guérande (West of France, near Nantes). It was the 5th edition, and on that time 180 players entered this event, which is certainly the biggest hardbat event in Europe (maybe in the World ?). 355 entries in 7 different series : on Saturday, "less than 11 years old", "less than 16 years old" and "Davis Cup", and on Sunday, "less than 1000 points" (in French "sponge" rating), "less than 1400 points", "less than 1800 points" and "Open".
Jean-Michel Carquin, #1 on French Hardbat Ratings, won the "Open" serie for the 4th time !
You can read the article about the tournament (in French) on our website : http://hardbat-france.fr/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=208

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Hardbat France, the first French association to promote hardbat
http://www.hardbat-france.fr/

Wow that's an impressive turnout!!!

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Yes, and the challenge for 2014 is 200 players or more.

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Hardbat France, the first French association to promote hardbat
http://www.hardbat-france.fr/

In our current US Open there are 24 players registered in our hardbat championship.
In the O40 there are 18 players registered
In the O60 there are 17 players registered
In the U2000 there are 19 players registered
In the U1500 there are 7 players registered
In the Hardbat Doubles there were 8 teams entered
In the O50 Hardbat Doubles there were 7 teams entered

There's a lot of overlap in these events. I'd guess maybe 50-60 players overall.

This is our biggest tournament, so I guess France is the Capitol of world hardbat now.

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

The best point of the final : http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x11nwa ... quin_sport

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Hardbat France, the first French association to promote hardbat
http://www.hardbat-france.fr/

I guess now we need a big showdown between J-M Carquin and Adoni Maropis, who just won the U.S. hardbat championship.

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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

The whole final is now online : http://hardbat-france.fr/modules.php?na ... atch&id=84

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Hardbat France, the first French association to promote hardbat
http://www.hardbat-france.fr/

It might be interesting. I'd love to maybe get a contingent of US players to go to France either in 2014 or 2015 to play in this tournament.

Also, keep in mind that Hardbat France has a looser definition of hardbat that we have in the US. If I recall correctly, the French rules allow any short pimpled rubber without sponge. The UK's HEATT goes to the other extreme, locking all players into playing with the same exact racket with the same rubber. In the US, we restrict the rubbers to one of about ten relatively low spin rubbers.

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Jay Turberville
http://www.jayandwanda.com
Hardbat: Nittaku Resist & Dr. Evil