OOAK Table Tennis Forum

Hey Guys,
I was under impression that looking at each other bats before a league match was a common custom. However, at all the local leagues I play at, it never really happens. It only occurs whenever I request it and I always get funny looks.

What is your experience?

The same as yours

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I always do at tournaments. In my club I already know. I usually break the ice by offering my paddle (with long pips) first and then ask to look at theirs.

Voluntary allowance for racket examination is somewhat a gesture of professional courtesy with the skilled players. Unskilled punks and casual players will not do so.

What annoys me are the players that think it's ok to touch the surface of your rubber. Especially if you have long pips, you'll have people rub the finger across them. With the anti I have now that's not really common to happen, although I've had a couple of people rub to see how smooth it is. I always feel like taking my hand, wiping sweat off my head, and rubbing it all across their inverted.

_________________
"Don't let a win get to your head or a loss to your heart"
USATT Rating: 1730
Blade: Stiga Cybershape Carbon
FH Rubber: Butterfly Tenergy 19 2.1
BH Rubber: Sauer & Troger Hellfire X OX

Agree 100%. Hate that behavior. I don't mind if they rub a ball across it. I kinda tolerate it if they rub their fingers on the edge. If they put their hand or fingers in the middle I am going to let they know how much I do not appreciate that...

I seal my blades and if I am using a setup with OX pips I am always dubious of letting people touch my rubbers. If you rub them too hard, sometimes it will start to pull the rubber off the blade, and gluing OX pips with water glue is not my favorite activity

Agreed - looking should be enough. I think certain people do it to deliberately annoy/psych out their opponents before a match. Kinda petty if so, especially in the lower levels of the game where it probably happens the most often.

Iskandar

Not sure about that.
Rule 2.4.8 Before the start of a match and whenever he or she changes his or her racket during a match a player shall show his or her opponent and the umpire the racket he or she is about to use and shall allow them to examine it.

Does "examine" include touching the pips , pressing the pips , feeling at the center of a spinny inverted rubber with your dirty fingers etc ?
What is acceptable ? Opponents should be allowed to do only what umpires are usually allowed to do, may be ?
Because I doubt umpires touch the pips or press on the pips or rub on the sweet spot (center) of a sticky pinny inverted rubber.
I think almost all certified umpires look for the ITTF logo & then for 4 mm thickness with a gauge (which is a big joke,,, I won't get into that as to why).
What really happens at most sanctioned tournaments especially 3 star or above though is quite interesting at least in USA
Umpires don't check initial round robins but start performing only visual racket examination & thickness test once an event reaches single elimination point. No chemical examination whatsoever (contrary to popular myth & what ITTF wants you to believe, thickness test is not a valid chemical examination....it is a joke). There are no handheld mass spectrographs or whatever for even some partial chemical examination. What this means is that a pips / anti player is at a distinct disadvantage from a ratings standpoint. You all can lie shamelessly & keep claiming "Oh we are just playing for fun", or "We are not pros-why is ratings important for the amateur" etc etc. But reality is that ratings (if they are not fake like USATT ratings increasingly are) are sacred for tournament players because as I see it one of the important purposes (for me the only purpose and not the whopping prize money in tabletennis or trophies) of playing in a tournament is to measure my improvement in performance & ratings are a dominant parameter for this for an amatuer player just as rankings are for a pro player.
So what this means is that my ratings are severely skewed if I am not even allowed to use somewhat of a fair rubber (the high aspect ratio super long pips type) but my opponent boosts like crazy (even endangering my health with secondhand effect of boosters & speed glues according to ITTF…not me) & openly brags about it on forums, if you take into account the already severely tilted playing field in favor of booster supremacists due to the 8 rule & regulation changes since 1983.

From an umpire's perspective, who is trying to move up the level ladder , I do somewhat understand the dilemma for the umpires because they have to prove themselves they are doing their job. So aggressive visual examination of pips players is one of the easy ways to do this because no chemical examination equipment is available for umpires at lower levels. Even at highest levels it is just a joke & ITTf wants everyone to believe now it is more of a perfomance issue & forget what it initially claimed (it is a health issue)