OOAK Table Tennis Forum

This is a blade from a famous Japanese chopper.If you zoom in, you will see there are gaps between the sponge and the blade.I wonder if this is legal.

Those gaps would only be on the edge, due to damage of the blade near the edge. That's quite common, and I don't think any umpires would regard this as illegal. A bit of edge tape would cover this nicely.
If the damage was further in, you'd be able to see on the rubber surface.

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It's interesting that it's even an issue these days. In the old days no one would have cared. You'd go to a tournament and there would be people playing with old rubbers removed from a smaller bat, for instance..

Iskandar

It is not clear from Sami's picture as to how far the rubber is inside of the blade. The enforced rule is that it cannot be more than 2mm either inside the blade or over-extending blade (such as when speed-glued or boosted).

I personally don't care at all about what my opponent uses but I think this is sort of strictly enforced in larger tournaments

Hi Marie,
That's not the point. Here, the point is vertical, not horizontal as you mentioned. It's about the depth of the blade surface, not the rubber or blade surface size.

WE SECURE FAIRNESS, FOR ALL.


A slight uneveness of thickness at the racket edges is generally permissible. While any other parts of the rubber must be of even thickness within the set limits 4mm / 2 mm.

Be happy.

You are correct. I totally misunderstood the question. I don't know about others but I sometimes do have listening & reading comprehension issues or may be my mind is is oriented towards thinking in one specific direction. And sadly this won't be my last time. And this is not just in English but also in another language which I can read write e & speak at literature levels as if it was my mother tongue but it is not and my mother tongue, which I am illiterate in (I can only speak my mother tongue and cannot read or write it). In other words I am a total idiot sometimes but not anywhere close to the number of times others think I am (like in these forums for instance)

Anyway I think now understand Sami's question. Looks like he is rferring to blackhole gaps (sponge not stuck to the surface) between sponge & rubber.
It may be ok if it is just at the edges but an umpire could say that I cannot see how deep this unevenness is on the surface of the blade such as 50 or 100 mm towards center & so I cannot let you use this blade. But then again I can tape over the edges all around to cover this flaw LOL

While Igor's answer is correct about the surface of the blade having to be even, I have no idea why he showing some unrelated gadget which only measures the thickness of the rubber (total 4mm). I think Igor is always showing off his expertise in the use of electronic , eletromechanical , mechanical & chemical gadgets by umpires to disqaulify players LOL I am just kidding

Sure, no bumps or cavities are alllowed across the rubber surface,
We have another instrument to measure the bumps and cavities on the rubber.

Be happy.