Neue Erläuterungen von Sharara (heute auf einem anderen Forum gepostet).
Es geht also wirklich jetzt nur noch darum, die Restbestände von Zelluloidbällen aufzubrauchen, bevor sie ganz verboten werden. Das ist schon drastisch, warum nicht beide weiter zulassen (wie bisher schon)?
Zitat:
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Zitat von ITTF President
The original date for the start of the POLY balls agreed upon by the ITTF Executive Committee and the ball manufacturers was for September 2012 after the Olympic Games. However, the Athletes' Commission recommended that we start after the 2013 World Championships and the EC accepted this proposal at its meeting on 19 November 2011 setting the start date of 1 July 2013, as requested by the Athletes Commission. In the meantime, the balls have been tested and continue to be tested and the Athlete Commission is giving the manufacturers feedback and their suggestions. After I visited the ball manufacturers and explained to them the proposal from the Athlete Commission they agreed to the new date and have adjusted their plans accordingly. More tests are being conducted, both technically (machines) and also analytically (players). The continuous feedback is to ensure that the final product is as close to the current balls as possible. It will never be 100% the same, but hopefully very close, so that not too much adjustment time would be needed.
There is no vote necessary for the introduction of the new POLY balls because they are legal already. The only vote that was necessary and passed in Rotterdam (May 2011) by the Board of Directors of the ITTF was the application of the size tolerance upwards for the new balls, instead of upwards and downwards as it is now. This means that the balls will be real 40mm balls, whereas now you can never find a 40mm, they are all produced at the minimum tolerance level (maybe to save money in production?).
Regarding the life of the celluloid balls, we are extending their legality as long as possible to allow the manufacturers and retailers to deplete their stocks. We estimate 2 years, but perhaps that may be shorter or longer. The process of making the new balls uses completely new technology, once that process starts the manufacturers will stop producing the celluloid balls in parallel. However, we do not want to have resellers stuck with balls they cannot sell. We will only make the final decision once we are sure that the stocks of celluloid balls are depleted, after which the ITTF will stop approving such balls.
The process is long, it started about 5-6 years ago, the new technology took a long time to develop and then to perfect, but luckily we are on time and will not be caught when the raw production of the celluloid sheets are no longer available. My biggest fear was that the raw material for making TT balls would no longer be available and we would have a sport without a ball. Now I feel much better that we are on the right track.
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