OOAK Table Tennis Forum :: Q & A about Plastic balls

Is the Stiga Optimum a Chinese seamed ball? That has a noticeably lower bounce.

12.2 New term for plastic ball
Discussion started in Equipment Committee on finding a new term for
“plastic ball”, because celluloid is also plastic. Equipment Committee
will make proposal to the EC once the new definition is agreed.

13 Athletes’ Commission report
Ball quality and quantity is still a problem, one out of 6 balls is good. Top players get good quality balls, but the majority use balls that are too soft, easily broken and the balls supplied for practice are even worse.
It is proposed to change balls after 3 games.
EC agreed that the situation with balls is still not satisfactory, and will be followed up with manufacturers.
At the same time AC is requested to collect more opinion from Asian players, to report officially the problems to the Competition Manager on site and to make use of its Chair’s invitation to visit DHS in China.

Hi Torsten,

I posted this in another thread here, but thought I would repeat it verbatim here:

This whole issue (date of ball manufacture, which factory, what level of QC etc) would not arise if the specifications of the plastic ball were more precise *and enforced*.

We almost do not have this whole issue with celluloid, and cannot remember it occurring with the transition from 38mm to 40mm.

What comeback is there if a box of 3 star balls with an unacceptable number of them:

not round?
not balanced?
not bouncing?
not lasting?

As far as I can tell, the buck stops with the ITTF given that they approve of balls even if they are OEMed and rebadged.

So where are the sanctions imposed on the ball producers or rebadgers? I have not heard of any ball approvals being rescinded.

</rant>
Disclaimer: I have still only had a 15-20 minute hit with a Stag seamless ball XGAF (Rebadged, June 2015) and did not like it. Also still waiting for orange ones.

Author:	igorponger [ 15 Dec 2015, 07:01 ]
Post subject:	Re: Q & A about Plastic balls - by ITTF's Torsten Küneth
BEWARE OF THE "ICY " TABLES... Baal Why do I hear no complaints regarding the DHS new plastic ball from my domestic players? More over, many of the high-rated players of Russia did spoke out in most complimentary terms as to the DHS plastic recent improvements. Perceptible improvement of the ball durability and size regularity is now appreciated by my own players in the first place. Again, the new DHS 40+ upward bounce magnitude is no concern with good players. The DHS ball is now generally recognized as "A Ball of real playability". Yes. Baal, Before you start producing any further criticism of the new plastic ball, please take in consideration the essentials of reality, that -- the slick low-friction table will always give a reduced ball's bounce you mentioned so oftentimes. Do not play on the shiny-slick tables. Just take my friendly advice, take care you not playing on the slick-icy tables. The low-friction tables tend to wreck your game utterly. Some later day I will gladly tell you in every particularity about the low-friction table's surface main disadvantage. It is a pretty worthy knowledge for every good player to hear.

Author:	Baal [ 16 Dec 2015, 16:55 ]
Post subject:	Re: Q & A about Plastic balls - by ITTF's Torsten Küneth
Maybe they like the extremely low bounce, maybe they have not played with better balls like Nittaku or the Butterfly G40+. Trust me, Igor, these balls play very differently from celluloid and any of the other 40+ balls. Whatever DHS has done with their new material has not solved that problem. They are a distinct outlier. They seem rounder, I like the color better, and the weight meets ITTF standards. But the bounce is still very very low. I gave them to a US team member to hit with. He hated them too. It is not just "bad players" who dislike balls that bounce that low. I wish it was different. I want DHS to make good balls, the more manufacturers the better. I have also played with them on new Btfly tables, by the way. Same problem. Also, the Tibhar 28 tables I usually play on are very good tables. Most players in Europe will tell you that. They are widely used at ITTF pro tour events. I repeat, in my opinion, people should not use Chinese seamed balls at this time.

Author:	dunc [ 17 Dec 2015, 05:28 ]
Post subject:	Re: Q & A about Plastic balls - by ITTF's Torsten Küneth
Is the Stiga Optimum a Chinese seamed ball? That has a noticeably lower bounce.

Author:	Baal [ 19 Dec 2015, 15:36 ]
Post subject:	Re: Q & A about Plastic balls - by ITTF's Torsten Küneth
dunc wrote: Is the Stiga Optimum a Chinese seamed ball? That has a noticeably lower bounce. yes.

Author:	lecridupongiste [ 21 Dec 2015, 23:26 ]
Post subject:	Re: Q & A about Plastic balls - by ITTF's Torsten Küneth
Some interesting findings in the minutes of the Executive Committee (09/19/2015) concerning the plastic ball: Quote: 12.2 New term for plastic ball Discussion started in Equipment Committee on finding a new term for “plastic ball”, because celluloid is also plastic. Equipment Committee will make proposal to the EC once the new definition is agreed. Quote: 13 Athletes’ Commission report Ball quality and quantity is still a problem, one out of 6 balls is good. Top players get good quality balls, but the majority use balls that are too soft, easily broken and the balls supplied for practice are even worse. It is proposed to change balls after 3 games. EC agreed that the situation with balls is still not satisfactory, and will be followed up with manufacturers. At the same time AC is requested to collect more opinion from Asian players, to report officially the problems to the Competition Manager on site and to make use of its Chair’s invitation to visit DHS in China.

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Q & A about Plastic balls - by ITTF's Torsten Küneth https://ooakforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=69&t=26354	Page 13 of 17

Author:	Retriever [ 13 May 2016, 16:20 ]
Post subject:	Re: Q & A about Plastic balls - by ITTF's Torsten Küneth
Hi Torsten, Do you know why no orange plastic balls are on the market? Beyond the fact that none have been sent for testing? There are some of us who play at venues with white walls, and with only white plastic balls are fast running out of the orange celluloid balls ...

Author:	Torsten [ 16 May 2016, 08:55 ]
Post subject:	Re: Q & A about Plastic balls - by ITTF's Torsten Küneth
Yes, there is an explanation. When you look at the current List of ITTF Approved Balls ( http://www.ittf.com/stories/Pictures/Balls_06_2016.pdf ) you will recognize that some suppliers now show up with two separate approvals for white non-celluloid balls with seam. This means that they have spent the past months with what we requested from them: To finalize research and development on the remaining issues such as durability (and some did so by even working on two types of material). This has of course been time-consuming, and for this reason, adding the orange balls still could not have priority for them. However, ITTF's guidance on this topic did not change: Orange non-celluloid balls will be approved by ITTF just as orange celluloid balls, and are expected to appear in the future.

Author:	Retriever [ 16 May 2016, 11:33 ]
Post subject:	Re: Q & A about Plastic balls - by ITTF's Torsten Küneth
Thank you Torsten.

Author:	Retriever [ 08 Jun 2016, 07:57 ]
Post subject:	Re: Q & A about Plastic balls - by ITTF's Torsten Küneth
Hi Torsten, I posted this in another thread here, but thought I would repeat it verbatim here: This whole issue (date of ball manufacture, which factory, what level of QC etc) would not arise if the specifications of the plastic ball were more precise *and enforced*. We almost do not have this whole issue with celluloid, and cannot remember it occurring with the transition from 38mm to 40mm. What comeback is there if a box of 3 star balls with an unacceptable number of them: not round? not balanced? not bouncing? not lasting? As far as I can tell, the buck stops with the ITTF given that they approve of balls even if they are OEMed and rebadged. So where are the sanctions imposed on the ball producers or rebadgers? I have not heard of any ball approvals being rescinded. </rant> Disclaimer: I have still only had a 15-20 minute hit with a Stag seamless ball XGAF (Rebadged, June 2015) and did not like it. Also still waiting for orange ones.

Author:	Torsten [ 20 Apr 2017, 07:05 ]
Post subject:	Re: Q & A about Plastic balls - by ITTF's Torsten Küneth
Hi All, just to inform you that I have updated the Q&A document again, it's now http://old.ittf.com/stories/pictures/Plastic_balls_Q_A_v3.pdf . Major updates (with respect to the bottom right page numbers) are on page 5, 6 (last point), 9, 10 (last point), 14, 17 and 19. It also covers what I recently wrote here: http://ooakforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=25&t=31105#p335161. Any further questions or comments are welcome as always, be it affirmative or critical.

Author:	benc6190 [ 02 May 2017, 22:36 ]
Post subject:	Re: Q & A about Plastic balls - by ITTF's Torsten Küneth
I have used DHS 3 star new balls before but two of them broke in the first minute of playing so I have not kept using them... My club uses nittaku 3 star premium ones that are 40+ and they are pretty nice I recommend them. Since we started playing with them last year any other ball feels weird now lol... especially the smaller balls

Author:	yourock88 [ 14 Jun 2017, 16:30 ]
Post subject:	Re: Q & A about Plastic balls - by ITTF's Torsten Küneth
This is a quite old thread....

Author:	haggisv [ 14 Jun 2017, 23:29 ]
Post subject:	Re: Q & A about Plastic balls - by ITTF's Torsten Küneth
It started a long time ago, but it's been active, with a lot of new information being added.

Author:	Robot Blocker [ 17 Jun 2017, 23:31 ]
Post subject:	Re: Q & A about Plastic balls - by ITTF's Torsten Küneth
I notice this does not draw a reply from anyone official, best brush it into the corner with your duff balls!!., Retriever wrote: Hi Torsten, I posted this in another thread here, but thought I would repeat it verbatim here: This whole issue (date of ball manufacture, which factory, what level of QC etc) would not arise if the specifications of the plastic ball were more precise *and enforced*. We almost do not have this whole issue with celluloid, and cannot remember it occurring with the transition from 38mm to 40mm. What comeback is there if a box of 3 star balls with an unacceptable number of them: not round? not balanced? not bouncing? not lasting? As far as I can tell, the buck stops with the ITTF given that they approve of balls even if they are OEMed and rebadged. So where are the sanctions imposed on the ball producers or rebadgers? I have not heard of any ball approvals being rescinded. </rant> Disclaimer: I have still only had a 15-20 minute hit with a Stag seamless ball XGAF (Rebadged, June 2015) and did not like it. Also still waiting for orange ones.

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Author:	Retriever [ 18 Jun 2017, 12:51 ]
Post subject:	Re: Q & A about Plastic balls - by ITTF's Torsten Küneth
I haven't been holding my breath. A little transparency would be good, and if everyone knows that XYZ type A ball is bad anyway there would not be very much brand damage. Instead of only the ball manufacturer looking bad, we have both the ball manufacturer and the ITTF looking bad.