42mm ball?!?

beeray1 wrote: I heard on another forum that Sharara announced to the german ITTF site that they are testing the 42mm ball !!! He also said they are going to raise the net size, and that if sharara wins the election next year thsese things will take place. Has anyone heard anything about this???

The original and the english translation.
This guy is nuts.
I miss the 38mm ball.
I miss the 21 points.

I sincerely hope he won't be reelected next year.

Well, BOTH links I just posted are on the ITTF website.

not only is it bigger but it's lighter, instead of 2.7gr the 40mm has, the 44mm is 2.2-2.4gr

Well I emailed Adham Sharara directly and he confirmed that these changes are being discussed, but he also said that "there is no current proposal at the moment to increase the size of the ball."

These changes are just discussions at this point, and even if they became official proposals, there would be "a series of experiments would have to be conducted and a long time frame would be in order before any such change would take place."

So no worries yet. If AND when the proposal becomes a reality, we can all bitch about it then. =]

crs2 wrote: I believe he will be elected and  will change the sport as he damn pleases. And there's nothing anybody in this world can do about it.  Do you agree? Where was the protest against these measures now? What national federation complained? How many players signed the petition against the ban? People are sheep and they go where the shepherd leads them. That is why they elect a president so they don't have to get involved ever again.   Why is it so important for the sport to become more popular? Isn't it already? Why should the ball be more visible on the screen (btw, 2mm won't make the ball more visible) or the net higher? Why should the halls be even more packed with spectators? Paris Worlds 2003 wasn't packed enough? Why  change a thing THAT WORKS?   This man has to understand something: Table tennis will never be the most popular sport in the world! And that is OK with me. Leave this game alone.

nicefrog wrote: addoydude wrote: You know I've been thinking about it, and maybe it's not so bad as it seems. I mean 40 to 42 is even a less percentage increase than 38 to 40. The way you here it described here is that when you chop or topspin the ball, by the time it reaches the other side of the table it will be no spin! Come on, guys. There may be a tiny spin reduction but I'm sure if you loop a 42mm ball with say Inspirit Quattro 35mm, it will still land on the other side with a kick.   It will loose at least 15% spin and speed, much more than anyone ever gained with speed glue

Where'd you get this data? any valid samples or just throwing a number here?

What JimT said.

pablogilberto wrote: nicefrog wrote: addoydude wrote: You know I've been thinking about it, and maybe it's not so bad as it seems. I mean 40 to 42 is even a less percentage increase than 38 to 40. The way you here it described here is that when you chop or topspin the ball, by the time it reaches the other side of the table it will be no spin! Come on, guys. There may be a tiny spin reduction but I'm sure if you loop a 42mm ball with say Inspirit Quattro 35mm, it will still land on the other side with a kick.   It will loose at least 15% spin and speed, much more than anyone ever gained with speed glue Where'd you get this data? any valid samples or just throwing a number here?

its a lot harder to defend with a bigger ball. 

I think Alot of people need to go out and buy a 44mm ball. Then you will see how drastic the difference is.  If a 42mm ball is 1/3 this difference, it is still much bigger than 38mm to 40mm.
The real problem is the reason he is making the changes. To try and stop domination by one country earned through hard work and training.
How would you feel if it was "your" country?

Hookshot wrote: I think Alot of people need to go out and buy a 44mm ball. Then you will see how drastic the difference is.  If a 42mm ball is 1/3 this difference, it is still much bigger than 38mm to 40mm. The real problem is the reason he is making the changes. To try and stop domination by one country earned through hard work and training. How would you feel if it was "your" country?

dimitris wrote: Anybody knows who votes on this election and how we can influence the vote? If we, the participants of the sport, do not have a saying in this, it seems to me that the procedures are not very democratic...

An online petition could probably help! Anybody who thinks this is a good idea, we can start it here in MyTT.

Next change: 5.5x9.5 tables!!

Why don't he try tennis ball and let us TT players play with shorter tennis racquet?

When will ITTF hold a meeting to replace this man.. he is abusing the power given to him by us.. TT grass roots players..
Let's start a new federation..

checkmilu wrote: You guys are examples of change resistance.   It's always hard to change, but if it's good then we have to change.   You familiar with small ball so don't want larger ball. Any one here have try the old small ball and want to change back to the 38mm ball? No? I'm sure most of people love the new 40mm ball, it's easier to see, more feelling, less stupid mistakes...   Same to the bigger ball of 42-44mm, depend on its weigh, bouncing characteristics...the game still be very fast but at the same time more spectator friendly, people sitting at the back of a large stadium or infront of TV still understand and enjoy the games. It'd make our sport be more popular, more TV coverage, more $$$ so the game will be more competitive, more top players from Europe, Australia, America...so it's good for every one...think out side the box guys

i agree--to a certain extent.  and i think if you asked sharara about it he would say exactly what you said. 

but i feel he is actually acting under a false impression (that the ittf has had for a while now, at least since '88-'89) that changes to the rules (on equipment, in this case) will somehow mitigate the total lockdown that the chinese have on the game right now.  and his post-olympic statements on his "concerns," as he put it, confirm my feelings.

as i see it, the only equipment rule change that might mitigate chinese dominance for a short while (and only for a short while) would be to ban sticky rubber. 

if you watch the games closely between the chinese and the rest of the world you can see clearly that they are bothered by the spin from the sticky rubber the chinese play with.

if you only rarely, or worse, never practice against chinese rubber, you absolutely, positively will have problems with it.  if you don't practice against it, you will have a really hard time anticipating how much spin is on the ball or how the ball will "kick" when it hits your side of the table.

so, a lot of times, you think you're in position for the next ball, but it drops below your racket.  or sometimes you think you can hit the next ball off the bounce only to have it curve on you in some funny way and spin right off your racket.

those aren't stupid mistakes--it's the rubber.  chinese rubber is just too unpredictable if you are not used to it.

so, if sharara wants to lessen chinese dominance, he should push for a ban on sticky rubber, but that would be way too obvious, so i guess he'll push for a bigger ball instead.

and the reason for that is the bigger ball will reduce the spin and speed, and, therefore, the unpredictability of the chinese rubber.  but that will only be temporary, cuz faster, spinnier chinese rubber will come out shortly after the 42 mm ball, if that rule change does come about.

also, there's been a lot of rancor on this forum towards prez sharara for the changes "he" made to the game, but they were voted on by a committee, NOT decided on by him.

tv...  y'know, i'm a little bit of an oldtimer.  i've been playing and watching this came off and on for a little more than 20 yrs.  and i can tell you that the game has never been televised as much as it is now (since sharara took over), save for a brief time in the early to mid 80's.  nor has the shotmaking been this good.

also, in the past, he's often cited "tv" as a justification for rule changes.  how do we know he's not telling the truth?  maybe the tv people are in fact telling him, "look, if you want us to televise this, then we need you guys to change this, that and the other thing..."  you never know...