Manika Batra's rubber has been de-approved by the ITTF

[Enban]

Before you dismiss me as crazy, please just hear me out & by all means correct me if I am mistaken.
The Tibhar Dtec OX Rubber used by Manika Batra , Sreeja Akula & Yashaswini Ghorpade etc. has been de-approved by ITTF as of the January 2025 LARC
Many other popular rubbers such as Feint Long 2 & 3 OX , TSP Curl P1r , Victas Curl P1v have also been de-approved
I never continued to umpire long ago after I got my Regional USATT umpire certification (level 2 above club umpire & below national umpire). So if I pay my recertification fees I could still be asked to umpire in that capacity TODAY.
I would face a dilemma then if I am to umpire TODAY. Because as it stands today, according to the latest ITTF LARC , there are no LARC approved OX rubbers that can be used in an ITTF (or affiliate) sanctioned tournament.
Now I fully understand that Rule 2.4.3 allows for OX rubbers are allowed
But obviously not every OX rubber is approved. Only the OX rubbers that are listed on the latest LARC are allowed in ITTF (or affiliate) sanctioned tournaments.
Any rubber that was approved in previous LARC , however famous or how widely it was used (as was the case of Feint Long Classic) could easily become de-approved in the latest version of LARC. So just because Rule 2.4.3 says OX rubbers are approved, it by no means implies that any OX rubber is approved. ONLY the OX rubbers that are listed as approved in the latest LARC are allowed

But in the latest LARC as of January 1, 2025 , all OX rubbers have been de-approved. Why. Just take a look & figure it out for yourself.
I am told it could be a mistake. Fine . That is possible. But as an umpire what am I supposed to do ? My hands are tied. Make up my own rules on the fly & allow OX rubbers to be used . I cannot do that.
For an umpire / referee I would tend to think the LARC is as sacred a document as the Rule Book.
So as an umpire if I am umpiring a USATT tournament today , I cannot allow any rubber that is OX version of a given brand because the LARC explicitly prohibits the use of such rubbers.
Please advise.
Because if it is indeed a mistake, when & if they would be corrected is not really my problem, because as an umpire you & I are duty bound to enforce the ITTF LARC as it exists TODAY if you are umpiring an ITTF (or affiliate such as USATT) sanctioned tournament.
I just checked the ITTF LARC before posting this (January 6, 2025) & it still says no OX rubbers is approved.
There are of course other serious mistakes / issues with the LARC but I won*t get into that .

[Hansi Blocker]

Hi Carline,

you are wrong. An example is the andro Classic. It only exists in an OX version. But the ittf equipment page says: No

Perhaps it is a problem by the LARC.

[Enban]

I see your point
But as an umpire I cannot make wild assumptions & as I clearly stated, mistakes by ITTF. As an umpire I just enforce the LARC for a given rubber.

I do not make my own interpretations for other rubbers just based on my wishes
As I said this column has been added explicitly to spell out which OX rubber is allowed and which is not for the same brand.
Past approval is not an automatic indication of today's approval or predictor of tomorrow's approval

If I was an umpire today I am not allowed to allow a player to use Andro Classic. It is not MY decision. It is ITTF's decision. As an umpire I am duty-bound to enforce the rules as it stands today. Don't shoot the messenger

If it is a mistake, then it is ITTF's responsibility to fix it IMMEDIATELY especially a serious error like this.

[Allsquared]

According to your logic every single rubber on the LARC would be disapproved, because none of the rubbers has an entry "Sponge Color".
So, the Sponge Color of all real rubbers differ from the LARC, therefore they are not approved.

[Enban]

Zitat von Allsquared

According to your logic every single rubber on the LARC would be disapproved, because none of the rubbers has an entry "Sponge Color".
So, the Sponge Color of all real rubbers differ from the LARC, therefore they are not approved.

Please check again for sponge color . There are quite a few rubbers with sponge color added. If you download the Excel version of LARC & sort on sponge color you will see it

See the attachment that shows a partial Excel file
The full list has 590 rubbers with sponge color specified

Also the sponge color column is NOT a YES or NO column (like the "Has OX rubber" column). If the color column is left blank it means there are no color restrictions for this specific rubber at this time. So you can use any color sponge with that rubber. (I assume sponge colors will be added, if there will be any in the future, for other rubbers)

[Eddie Vedder]

I have been in contact with ITTF yesterday regarding this topic. This is a mistake that will be solved soon.

Background:
ITTF has informed the brands that these (sponges and OX versions) will be officially tested from 01.01.2026. During the preparation process the certain columns were already added to the files while they are hidden on the frontpage.
The ITTF Referees and Umpires are informed about it.

To sum it up: no need to worry. Rubbers are of course still allowed.

[Enban]

Zitat von Eddie Vedder

I have been in contact with ITTF yesterday regarding this topic. This is a mistake that will be solved soon.

This is a clown show. Has any software engineer heard of a document tested live like this LOL ?
You do not release a document that is still being tested as live to cause mass confusion.
They should have kept the old format until the new format of the document was 100% ready.
The confusion is caused because the document was partially ready (with 580 or so rubbers having sponge colors but others not etc.) but have an illusion that it was fully ready.

Zitat von Eddie Vedder

The ITTF Referees and Umpires are informed about it.

Where is this document that informs umpires located ?

Zitat von Eddie Vedder

During the preparation process the certain columns were already added to the files while they are hidden on the frontpage. .

No. These fields are clearly visible in the Excel & PDF files.

Zitat von Eddie Vedder

ITTF has informed the brands that these (sponges and OX versions) will be officially tested from 01.01.2026.

Are you saying that they will leave a test document as a final document for one more year (1.1.2026) ? LOL
Is this document going to be continually updated live ? If so they should remove the validity period statement at the top that says that this document is valid for the current year.
So what are they going to do ? Continually update all 3 versions (HTML, XLSX & PDF) live ? That is crazy
It would have made sense if they release the changes every 3 months like they did before (or at least every month).
We can sit here & argue all day but there is no point.
I am not an active umpire so I don't really care but I just stated how such serious errors in a very important document can lead to mass confusion for umpires & panic for pips players.
Because I received emails from pips haters who are already celebrating that OX pips rubbers are being scrutinized aggressively by the ITTF and many of them will be banned even after the mistake is fixed.
Many pips haters even claim that they will demand & insist that this document be treated as final document until error is fixed & I cannot blame them.
On the flip side most pips players feel that adding a column just for OX is a clear witch hunt & I cannot blame them either.
Because now pips haters start complaining & targetting each OX version.

Also it is not cleat to me when all these changes were authorized ? I do not see them authorized as a regulation change by the ITTF Executive council or as a rule change by general council at the 2024 AGM . Unless there was an EGM held after the AGM 2024 to approve these changes

[Eddie Vedder]

Problem is already solved.

[masl83]

There is only one person in this conversation who is producing a clown show by using different accounts and creating issues and problems where there are none.

[Enban]

Zitat von masl83

There is only one person in this conversation who is producing a clown show by using different accounts and creating issues and problems where there are none.

Hello,
If the owners of this forum stop blindly worshipping ITTF and deleting my important posts & then suspending my account, this problem won't be here. But in all fairness this forum is little more open minded than other forums. Other forums are lot more corrupt.
I am actually thankful to this forum for helping me recover myself from ITTF's 30 year long second brainwashing about dumb rackets with the topic
https://forum.tt-news.de/showthread.php?t=550825
Regardless as this topic shows, I had to work hard to prove that there was a mistake by ITTF.
Yet even now ITTF & everyone here is acting like this was a minor issue & not even apologize to me & other players. I realize every one makes mistakes but you do not have the basic human decency to acknowledge & apologize just because it was me who pointed out the error.
No problem. I am used to this kind of abuse from 1998 since ITTF continues to lie claiming that LONG pips still exist in table tennis (& choppers are the biggest fools to continue to fall for this lie)
This is why I also have no doubt 90% of table tennis players are biggest crooks in many ways with no conscience or remorse