OOAK Table Tennis Forum

http://tabletennista.com/2014/10/adham- ... eam-video/

With the big reform taking place in the table tennis sport right now, Adham Sharara believes that the Chinese players will not have much difficulty with it.

The most anticipated change in table tennis has already started. From celluloid, it has been changed to plastic. Also, the size is now bigger.

"The most fundamental reason why we made the ball bigger is for the television viewers to see more clearly the ball in action. After making it bigger, its speed has decreased, allowing players to put more power in every shot." Adham Sharara said.

In every reform in the sport, it is believed that the reason for them being implemented is to challenge the domination of China. This time, the ITTF Chairman Adham Sharara is somehow in defense saying that this reform will not affect the Chinese Team.

"I believe that the new ball will not give any impact on the Chinese players.They are the world's top players so generally, their adaptability with the new ball will be faster than the others." Mr. Sharara explained.

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LOL! How many times has he stated "we did NOT make the ball bigger", we simply changed the tolerance.

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Right Adham, a .5mm size increase will make a huge difference to the television viewers.

Now all the ITTF needs to do is figure out how to get table tennis on television.

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Chairman Sharara = Father of Modern Day Table Tennis.
He has made table tennis BIG!

How much of a diff will half a mm make to actual game play? And I am really not sure if it will be more visible than the current size? Is this change actually going to need any adjustment from the players, or will it be within the realm of adjustments that players have to make anyway, when they play on a new table, on a different kind of flooring, change a blade or rubber?

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You can feel it when you play but it sure won't affect what you see on TV! Not that there is much on TV anyway.

Depending on your level and how you play it takes some getting used to but it's not the end of table tennis as we know it. In terms of comparing adjustments to the new ball with those caused by floor, table, blade etc., I would say it is something a bit different because the timing and trajectory of the ball is not quite what you are used to. Also if you are using Chinese seamed balls, you have to also get used to a substantially lower bounce. You will find yourself rushing a lot, and if you get away from the table the trajectory of the ball is just weird, so your instincts are a bit off. Pushes tend to stop and sit up nicely to be attacked until you learn to really concentrate on keeping them low. I have been using 40+ balls now for about three months and now it is just the new normal (although I definitely have a preference for seamless, except for the new Nittaku Japan 40+, which is back-ordered everywhere).

The more aggressively you play, the more you will need to adjust, especially if your game relies on spin. The further you play away from the table the more you need to adjust and that is true for loopers and defenders. SP players will love this ball.

As for Sharara, I wish he would just disappear and enjoy his retirement. There is a long history on this website rehashing his stated reasons why we needed to make this change. This new reason? Doesn't make any more sense than the previous ones did to me. But personally I have moved on, I know use plastic balls pretty much exclusively (like most people in my club).

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Great more stuff ups from the ITTF. I am kind of worried about the new changes of poly balls coming through and I don't feel the right to change to this new ball. I think for the principle of ethics of the ITTF's decisions buying these seamless balls will support their coffers and I have to refuse. Celluloid balls are a pain to transport as we all know, but they are the best material to make balls out of. Ask any Pro player if they have to choose from celluloid to plastic, I think they will be choosing celluloid. What I also dislike is the ball is slower so it gives a millisecond more time for a looper to get ready for his or her next shot. If he/she was up against a counterhitter that good counter drive could of been recovered just of the fact of that the seamless ball was slower so it gave the looper enough time to recover for his or her shot, if this was the case with celluloid the looper would lose. It seems the ITTF have no idea of the meta of table tennis and the variety of instances of what can happen in a point scenario. GG ITTF.

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Why is it always China Sahara states. He uses them as a scapegoat to prove his points. "If China can adapt to these balls, ANYONE ELSE CAN!" Flawed statement so many holes I'm not going to bother to point them out. Please go away Sahara you just find a new scam each year to penny pinch more money from the sport to please stakeholders, if you have any or just for your own pocket.

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What about us spazzers with limited mobility, what about the impact on us, after years of difficulty getting a decent game together?

So is putting more power in every shot, not going to make the ball go faster making it more difficult to see on TV?

Shahara is a very confused man, I echo Baal's sentiments, I too wish that he would go and get a different train set to play with, the truth is that he has probably got all of his fingers (and toes ) in many pies milking the hell out of TT, surreptitiously through loopholes and companies within companies to hide the smoke trail.

A truly disingenuous character, TT's very own Sepp Blatter imho!

I think he is a cnut, but I wouldn't lower myself to say it in public!

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A couple of things on this. ITTF has a deal in place with DHS to use their balls for the majority of their events. They make most of the seamed polyballs that are sold in the world today, and it is not yet a good product. If ITTF was in bed with the one maker of seamless balls (XuShaFa) they would probably be using the XSF ball. The XSF ball is the only one that is generally available now that doesn't break constantly, it is rounder, and it is not exorbitantly priced. In other words, there is no reason to think that the seamless ball fills any ITTF coffers. They are a smallish company and they don't have a lot of pull on the international scene. It is actually more or less a quality product, although it clearly does not play exactly like celluloid. It is true that the polyballs give a looper a little more time to get in position (that would be me) but the resulting loop will have less speed and spin and defenders and blockers have a few more millisesonds to make their shot. One of my friends and practice partners, a short pip penholder, was punishing me last night with these ball. Experience at my club so far is that outcomes of matches are not changing in any dramatic way between people who have played many times and are now using the new balls.

As for ITTF pushing this through, that was shady and awful, and nothing about it inspired confidence in ITTF or Sharara (who may even be worse than the guy who runs FIFA, only there is less at stake so people don't notice as much). I would prefer to not have to deal with this, and the first plastic balls I tried (Joola, DHS) were really depressing. But things are what they are and my guess is at some point celluloid balls will become scarce. I know some people think that if we all just decide to boycott these new balls, magical "market forces" will force manufacturers to give up on plastic and only make celluloid. I don't think so. I suspect they may have already switched all of their production to new balls. In any case, we will see. I have a pretty big stache of both kinds of balls.

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Butterfly Viscaria Black tag
2.2 mm Nexy Karis M on FH and BH

And they understandably want to sell their product, which appears fairly difficult. According to this posting at tt-news.de (in German) they are desperately trying to sell their stocks. The user who posted that also described both playing properties and durability of those balls as horrible.

I'm with smartguy here (for a change) it wouldn't suprise me if Leagues, Countries and other organisations just won't use the new ball
like a time of stalemate, then it will go one way or the other
I still havn't really tried the new ball yet , except for chucking a few in the robot ( both balls still going round after nearly 3 months)

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Which is contradicted by a large and growing number of people on English language websites who say that they are better than seamed Chinese polyballs. Note, I am not comparing XSF seamless to celluloid, I am comparing to other plastic balls. At the end of the day, people will do what they want, believe what I write from extensive experience or not (and not just my experience, I am reporting the opinion of three former US National team members who play at my club, including one who was once ranked in the top 100 in the world). I know which ones I will use by preference. As I said elsewhere, I really don't care what you think and I no longer understand what you are trying to accomplish other than to troll every thread where I say something about these balls.

If the plastic balls disappear and we go back to celluloid, I would be quite happy. I just doubt that is in the future.

* no information on that German posting linked by "Smartguy" was given about the brand or date of manufacture of the seamless ball that was tried, or if it was ITTF approved, and no information was given as to where the information about the 3 million balls that they desperately want to sell (although it would not surprise me). No information was given about why they were bad. I have seen really bad seamless balls, for example all of the ones sold about a year ago, and some ones we got with the Ipong brand, which are being marketed as training balls. To make it clear, when I say good things about seamless balls I am referring ONLY to ITTF-approved XSF balls manufactured in March and April of 2014. Even those are not perfect. They are on the high end of the weight range, and they feel a bit soft and slow even by polyball standards. But at least the bounce is more or less normal and they are very durable. Of course "Smartguy" knows this but for reasons that are unfathomable to me wants to muddy the waters as much as he can.

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Butterfly Viscaria Black tag
2.2 mm Nexy Karis M on FH and BH

According to your own recent posting DHS balls with whatever stamps suck and according to that German report seamless balls are horrible.

I do not think it is interesting to know which one from this bad balls is worse in your opinion or in anyone else's. The point is that unlike a few months ago the most people know now that plastic sucks.

Whatever your club members say or not, beyond the international competitions under the ITTF guidance and consequently in some of the highest leagues in some countries where the league system is well developed, it looks like 99,9% have no interest in this plastic crap. E.g. in France they do not use plastic at all. Actually plastic is done.

I still understand the problem XSF has because they can not sell their balls apparently, so they need some aggressive marketing, but my strong opinion is that they can only have a very limited success, because people are not that stupid as you could possibly think. It also becomes more and more clear to more and more people that the seamed balls suck with every international event they are used at, so no aggressive marketing can help there either.

Either the ITTF goes ruthless against the players interests and banns celluloid balls, or the situation will remain for a while as it is now, with a few exception in countries without a significant league system like the US, where private tournament organizers can be bribed to use plastic at their events. Then maybe next summer plastic will be gone forever. I see the second possibility as much more likely. No fear mongering like "celluloid is poison" or "celluloid balls production has stopped already" will help.

Well if we go back to celluloid, I would certainly not object. That has never been my position. Actually I would be quite happy about it. I think most US Tournament organizers would prefer to use celluloid. The only reason we have used plastic balls in our recent local tournaments is because the North American Teams and later the US Open will be using 40+ so it only makes sense to get some events under your belt using those balls. We certainly didn't get the balls for free, let alone get paid a bribe. The Teams and Nationals are bigger events and they are sponsored by manufacturers (as they always have).

The only reason I have been using 40+ for the last few months is because I have been operating under the assumption that this is the only kind of ball we will have in the future, which is not the same thing as saying I like it. It is not some sort of irreversible step, like I would never be able to use a celluloid ball again!!! I still would not wager much money that we will be going back to celluloid but I am not clairvoyant, which is also why I don't make bets. So let me ask you this: What in their behavior makes you think ITTF would not ban celluloid if it came to that? Would that be enough to make you quit playing? I'm not going to quit playing.

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