OOAK Table Tennis Forum

Dear Iskandar Taib
You're always kindly welcome to visit this Umpire's Hub, feel free to ask any question. Mr. Werner Tury is all ready at your service.

Yours respectfully
Igor Novick.

https://mobile.facebook.com/groups/3033 ... 90860&_rdr

Iskandar.

I did just have a consultation with Mr. Tury about those products you propound as a protective tape on the blade's edge.
Werner Tury did suggested that you might well run into troubles if using those products at official events.
Due to a huge protrusion over the blade, all those duct strips have to be considered an illegal attachment to the blade, and it also does not comply with the Rule 2.4.5

With which Tury's suggestion I strongly agree.

See what I mean? Creeping persnicketiness. Anyone here using thick edge tape to protect their blade from hitting the table? I posted that because people were asking about padded edge tape, I've seen it on photos of rackets of pro players people have posted from time to time. I suggest these players not attend any of Igor's tournaments - they may be forced to remove the tape. This is something which would (like tiny pieces of topsheet missing from the edge of the racket) have absolutely NO impact whatsoever on play. Just the result of someone with a "bright idea".

Iskandar

I think some of the "continuous" surface, blade rules can be quite important.

I know of a guy playing pips-out rubber with several pips "missing" in part of a section of the rubber.

I also know of a friend using a very thick edge-tape, I think 2 foam tapes on top of each other.

Both cases, "accidental" contact at the "missing" pips .... and edge strikes .... resulting in points that are in no way possible without the defects.

So some rules DO APPLY. It is in fairness of the game. Uniformity of equipment surface etc HAS to be enforced in tournaments.

Unless the matches are "casual", "hobby" etc ... I don't see any problem with enforcement of said rule.

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When it gets to the point where someone can DELIBERATELY score points by hitting the ball with the edge tape, I'll concede this. Otherwise it's ridiculous - at what point is the tape "too thick"? Igor says 2mm is too thick but 1.5mm is OK. Where is the rule that says this is the case? This is the same rule that's used to disallow bats with tiny bits of topsheet missing from the edge. Sure, SOME shots that hit these bad spots will end up on the table, most of a time it's actually a disadvantage because it'd cause the ball to miss when it might've hit if the defect wasn't there. In the past, no one ever worried about this, these days people actually carry markers around to darken the exposed sponge (I can't figure out what THIS accomplishes - it doesn't somehow make the surface "more continuous", it just hides the defect - maybe they're worried the bits of exposed yellow sponge might bother the opponent if he can see it, perhaps??). I say use the "continuous" rule as it is written - if someone, for instance, puts a strip of pips out butt-jointed to a sheet of inverted, covering the third of the bat closest to the tip, THAT'S non-continuous.

There was an account I read about bats in the old hardbat days - people would use sheets of rubber for YEARS, until the middle of the bat had pips worn down to nubs.

Iskandar

As I said previously a lot of this is for competitions organised by bodies under the ITTF if not the ITTF itself. I myself have seen a referee use a marker to colour in the part of a blade not covered by the rubber for a top amateur from a 3rd world nation, recognising that they did not have a lot of cash to spare for new or properly cut rubber. So there is a lot of leeway under the referee's judgement.

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That's the thing, though - why would it be so important that the part of the blade be completely covered by the rubber (especially if it's just a few mm in extent)? I suppose you might argue that the ball could accidentally hit that part of the bat and come back with strange spin, or that it violates the "continuous" rule, but how would coloring in the uncovered wood alleviate either condition? I mean, the only thing this would alleviate is if somehow seeing the wood under the missing part of the rubber somehow bothers the opponent.. and what rule would apply there? In the old days, no one would have cared - I've seen people with ratty rubber edges (usually because they used the rubber for too long, until it was totally slick and dead) or people play with rubber taken off a smaller blade.

Iskandar