OOAK Table Tennis Forum

Living is the U.S. as a full-time hardbat player, I have always used an all-wood blade with rubber approved for U.S. hardbat events. Since my play is almost exclusively against sponge players, I decided to imagine the ultimate hardbat setup for close-to-the-table attack vs. sponge players. My thinking is a soft/slow blade (to absorb some of the incoming power) with grippier pips (to reduce some of the skidding when blocking loops). For example, how about an LKT Toxic 3 with RITC 802 OX or Globe 889-2 OX attached with glue sheets? All suggestions are welcome!

First experiment: Globe889-2 on LKT Toxic 3.
Having never played hardbat with rubber not on the approved U.S. hardbat rubber list, I decided to see how Globe 889-2 OX would work on a familiar Toxic 3 blade. To cut to the chase, it was amazing! I can see why Globe 889-2 is not on the approved hardbat rubber list. It produces a lot more spin than any of the "approved" hardbat rubbers. My serves were much more effective, my pushes had more spin, and I could block spinny loops with less "skidding" off the rubber than I have experienced before, especially with Dr Evil, my hardbat rubber of choice. When blocking loops, the throw is much higher than with Dr Evil, but once I got used to that, blocking was fine. When hitting forehand drives, the opponent's spin definitely has more effect than with Dr Evil, but I could hit harder because of the added topspin. I am planning to use this setup in a tournament in a couple of weeks (my first in over a year!), and I will give a follow-up report after that.

Have you tried 802-40? I looked around for bare topsheets, they're hard to find, but eventually I found them at Tenryu.

Iskandar