New Ball to be Introduced after London Olympics

Video after the jump

Finally some concrete details after the ITTF expressed the desire earlier this year to phase out the use of celluloid in the production of table tennis ball.

Originally posted by Propositions to AGM BoD 2011-Results3 F - Proposed by the Executive Committee - PASSED The ITTF Executive Committee and the Equipment Committee shall request from Ball Manufacturers to produce 40mm non-celluloid balls after the 2012 Olympic Games, in preparation for the total ban of celluloid production by national governments around the world, and the Equipment Committee shall adjust the Technical Leaflet in terms of description of the new material and tolerances.

Information regarding the material and playing characteristics is unclear, though PVC was once listed in earlier revision of the propositions that has since been removed.  What is currently known is that the ball is made out of one single piece, thus eliminating the seam once and for all.  Kudos to DHS and DFish for managing the feat.  The new ball will also come with a slight increase in diameter between 40mm and 40.60mm as opposed to 39.50mm and 40.50mm.

22 - Proposed by the Equipment Committee - PASSED To modify Technical Leaflet T3, The Ball (B.3 Size conformity); only applying to balls not made of celluloid The minimum diameter of every ball must be at least 39.50mm 40.00mm and its maximum diameter must not exceed 40.50mm 40.60mm. The sample mean average diameter, i.e. the mean of the average of the maximum and minimum diameters for each ball, must be in the range 39.60-40.40mm 40.00-40.50mm. Values below 39.25mm 39.70mm or above 40.75mm are considered in our calculations as outliers.

Well, expect a higher price tag for the new balls and avoid stocking up large quantities of the "gonna-be" old ones.

Maybe removing the seam will stop some of the cracking.  So, even if more expensive, they may last longer?

We've got several Dunlop PVC balls - horrible. I'd better buy one crore of the old.

Originally posted by Jonan uuuuuugh~ make it smaller, not bigger! Smaller balls would crack less and are more fair to non power-looping styles.

+1 I think the ITTF is shooting themselves in the foot with this move. I've been thinking about the game and how size affects playing distance. Larger players tend to play better further off of the table and small players tend to stand right up at the table. Smaller balls fly further out than larger balls, allowing one to play further away from the table. So by making it even bigger, you are just going to give a bigger advantage to smaller players. That's really going to help Europe out. Thanks guys

In fact the transition from 38 to 40 mm gave advantage to smaller players. Where are now the Swedish giants?

Originally posted by BMonkey ...the extra .3mm will change flight characteristics for sure when the ball is subjected to high aerodynamic loading.

I inferred this much; I was more curious about the magnitude of the differences in flight characteristics

Did I miss something? Celluloid banned by Nations around the world? All celluloid or just celluloid table tennis balls? No more celluloid key rings, toys and things?

Originally posted by Anton Chigurh Further, it would seem that manufacturers would have to go through yet another design/manufacturing frenzy to generate even thicker blades to keep the speed constant. (E.g., the Allround Evolution Evolution. )

You mean Allround Re-volution?

If they are more robust, that may be not a big issue. But indeed it's not just about the cost of the replacing the old balls that crack: it's throwing away all the old balls and get new ones, change robot heads, and the advertising frenzy that Anton cited:
Try the new [Insert_brand] Moleculo, the PVC rubber top sheet that creates molecular bonds with the new PVC balls for extra long dwell time, incomparable spin and unlimited control.

Originally posted by zeio Originally posted by Propositions to AGM BoD 2011-Results3 F - Proposed by the Executive Committee - PASSED The ITTF Executive Committee and the Equipment Committee shall request from Ball Manufacturers to produce 40mm non-celluloid balls after the 2012 Olympic Games, in preparation for the total ban of celluloid production by national governments around the world, and the Equipment Committee shall adjust the Technical Leaflet in terms of description of the new material and tolerances.

"The total ban of celluloid production by national governments" looks like another hoax.

I can not find anything on the internet about such a ban.

I know this has been covered before but I really wish the players (particularly China) would take steps to form their own international table tennis organization. ITTF is out of control and driven by greedy manufacturers. There's hardly any consideration for players.

Originally posted by sweetstrike Will they still weigh about 2.7 grams? They could make it a little heavier to slow down the game. A thicker wall would also mean more durability and a harder feel which is preferred by many people. If they get rid of the seam, then in theory all of the balls can be 3 star grade. So they should be cheaper in the end because there will be less rejects (1 stars).

Edited by qynthnghm - 05/24/2011 at 8:30pm

Double happiness for Tamasu gang.

But I still have a bad feeling, because of their alleged worldwide "total ban" of celluloid coming, which I can not find any reference to on the internet. Why do they need to lie about it?

Originally posted by qynthnghm In our sport, this is how most of the money is made. We're flooded with hundreds and hundreds of different rubbers/balls/blades/accessories that we may or may not need.

Side note (slightly off topic):

This is absolutely true, and I highly doubt it's an accident. Various psychological and neuroeconomic experiments demonstrate that while people prefer choice, there is a limit to how much choice makes them happy. After a certain threshold of choice is surpassed, people find it increasingly difficult to be happy with their selection. In that case, too much choice benefits the company in that it keeps people spending, and is detrimental to the customer in that it keeps people from being as satisfied.

Given this principle, I couldn't help but immediately think of the EJ virus. Flood the market with a billion things with only slight differences between them and many people will be strongly compelled to sample it all, never quite being happy with what they have, always curious about the next thing around the corner.

It seems to be a potent tactic: keep people queasy with curiosity and you'll consistently get their money.