Hardbat (Brettchen) Tournament

[JamesG]

Hi folks.

I just wanted to ask if anyone here will be playing at the Nordhorn Brettchen Tournament, or has any info about it. I obviously do not live in Europe and do not plan to attend, but I am interested in hardbat (brettchen) tt play in general.

In the US, we sometimes to see some classic players from the past emerge to play in hardbat once in a while. Are there going to be any famous past TT Stars at this tournament? who were the top german players from the 50s-60s anyway? I think it's great that Germany has apparently joined the list of countries that offers hardbat as an alternative.

regards,
Jamie

[Peter2]

Hi Yankee.

My friend Franz-Josef Hürmann once won the Las Vegas Championship, I think in 1974. But for me, this kind of championship in Germany is almost unknown. So I can not give you further informations.
Most of the "old" players do not use internet in Germany.

Long pimples are allowed??

Greetings, Peter

HardBat Equipment in the US:

Briefly...no long or medium pips. Any all-wood blade, with no sponge, and rubber similar to the English Leyland or old Dunlop "Barna" type. The principle is that the game shouuld be played in an "equipment-neutral" environment.

A full description of the allowable parameters for rubber may be found at:
http://www.hardbat.com
the Web site for Classic Hardbat Table Tennis in the US.

John the Elder

Originally posted by Peter2
Hi Yankee.

My friend Franz-Josef Hürmann once won the Las Vegas Championship, I think in 1974. But for me, this kind of championship in Germany is almost unknown. So I can not give you further informations.
Most of the "old" players do not use internet in Germany.

Long pimples are allowed??

Greetings, Peter

[zachary]

Hi John!

Here's a repost of what John wrote in the newsgroup:

HardBat players here in the USA are excited to think that interest in playing HardBat is growing overseas... Last year, a number of HardBatters visited Manchester, U.K. to participate in an International HardBat Invitational, and associated HardBat events...perhaps a trip to Germany is next?

Sounds like a good idea to me!

Anyone out there watched the Brettchen matches and have any comments? (positive or negative)

zachary

[ttoutpost]

Originally posted by Peter2
Hi Yankee.

My friend Franz-Josef Hürmann once won the Las Vegas Championship, I think in 1974. But for me, this kind of championship in Germany is almost unknown. So I can not give you further informations.
Most of the "old" players do not use internet in Germany.

Long pimples are allowed??

Greetings, Peter

Here's a photo of Franz as he plays an exhibition match with Cheng Yinghua at the Phoenix Table Tennis Club on 5 Jan 95

http://members.aol.com/ttoutpost1/FranzHurmann.jpg

[zachary]

Nostalgia and modernity shook hands on Saturday in the gym of the Frensdorf School – the inaugural Nordhorn Brettchen Open was played with rackets reminiscent of the 50s, but it was also the first official tournament in this county played with the newly implemented 40mm ball.

It came as no surprise that the largely local playing field had no real problems with the larger ball. What was astonishing was the ability of some to adapt well to the unfamiliar equipment. The so-called “Brettchen” (hardbat) rackets with short pips-out rubber and no sponge make for a game that is completely different from the one associated with the high-tech spinny and fast rackets which are common today. Nonetheless, the 24 players from 8 mostly local clubs showed themselves, after a brief period of adjustment, to be quite agile at adapting to the much slower and basically spin-less “Brettchen.”

At the tournament were 3 veterans, who were active players back when the whole world played table-tennis with hardbat. Rudi Knospe and Willi Maatmann from the local organising club Eintracht Nordhorn made their way as expected to the doubles finals. Victory seemed assured, until their fellow club player of 13 years Lars Brinkhaus and his doubles partner Beate Kunert came back from 12-18 down in the second game to win it, and then to take the third as well. In singles, the two veterans from Eintracht were eliminated in the semis – Willi Maatmann upset by Kai Lenters and Rudi Knospe unable to break through the strong defence from Siegfried Porsch (from Sterkade) with his attacks. In the finals, the 54-year-old Porsch , who plays in regular tournaments in the Ruhrgebiet with hardbat as well, was considered the favourite over 18-year old Lenters , who normally is very much part of the speed-gluing generation. However, Lenters’s talent showed even with the unfamiliar equipment. He came back from losing the first game 13-21 and starting attacking more in the second and third games. The audience was thrilled by the remarkable duel between attack and defence, in which every point was hard-fought and where the ball crossed the net more than 20 times during some rallies – an absolute rarity in normal table-tennis. Lenters won both the second and third games 22:20 and thus surprisingly won the prize for this international tournament. The top seed in the tournament was Imke Kohrmeyer from the second league, but she did not make it past third place in doubles on Saturday.

After the finals match, Thorsten Boomhuis (President of the TT-division of Eintracht Nordhorn) spoke of the event as a successful attempt to enrich the present table-tennis scene.

this report was translated by me from the German original by SV Eintracht Nordhorn at http://www.sv-eintracht-nordhorn.de/berichte.htm