OOAK Table Tennis Forum

Here's an archival post by the head of the USATT Hardbat Committee from the Yahoo groups about a huge purge of short pips by the ITTF in 2005. This is a massive pip ban that no one at the ITTF could justify, yet it was implemented anyway. SMH

How are classic Leyland short pips, Butterfly Challenger Chop and TSP Spinpips detrimental to the sport? Why was it "too late" for the ITTF to correct a mistake? Disgusting.

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

Very interesting find, didn't know that, thanks MMNB!

It would be really good to know what steps led to this decision and what the reasons were.

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It seems to be an unintended result of the aspect ratio change intended to kill long pips in 1999. The ITTF didn't enforce this for five years, then they started. They very easily could have made an exception for short pips, but instead chose to punish the players, as usual, instead. This move also effectively ended the career of Chinese superstar Liu Guoliang, which may be the real reason why they went through with it.

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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

I like this one: "The problem for us, is that after the ban takes effect, there will be fewer hard rubbers that will be legal in normal tournament play, and none of them are the really "classic" ones (except Butterfly Orthodox, which apparently just meets the new specs)."

What a coincidence.

Many of them seem to still be around. To name a few: Meteor 845 (Maker says it is a SP, but classified as LP by the ITTF), Double Fish 820A ("A" added to the name), DHS 652 ("PF4" missing), and Friendship's 802 and 563.

History lesson, please!
Did they change the pip size on those, or did they pass the test without any change?
Do the slightly different names on some of them signify a different pip size, or are they entirely different rubbers from the outset?

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I'm quite sure they would have changed them... adding a letter to their product name, but not too big a change so that people still recognise the name.

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OOAK Table Tennis Shop | Re-Impact Blades | Butterfly Table Tennis bats
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Recent Articles: Butterfly Tenergy Alternatives | Tenergy Rubbers Compared | Re-Impact User Guide

Some rubbers like Friendship 799 I think simply got re-issued with longer pips. Just because the rubber name is the same doesn't mean that the design didn't change.

I didn't re-read Scott's posting, but as I recall, one of the main issues was enforcing the 1mm minimum height requirement. Many of the classic rubbers had pips heights shorter than 1mm. That's partly what was so maddening. A shorter pip is less like long pips and more like inverted. So what's the problem?

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

I guess they got affected unintentionally when they changed the aspect ratio rules.

As always its the fault of long pimplers exploiting the game that causes these things

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Haifu whale soft (grips-euro)
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Further evidence of ITTF intolerance and discrimination.

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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

I'm not sure it is directly related to long pips. The problem is the MINIMUM pip height, not the aspect ratio rule per se. Pips must be at least 1mm in height. The rule had actually been around for a bit, but the ITTF finally decided to enforce it.

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