Boosting

Jayce Soberano Asked 10 years ago

Hi i have recently ordered a few rubbers.

I already use my Butterfly innerforce ALC paddle with DHS hurricane 3 neo FH and Xiom sigma Euro BH. I just ordered Xiom Tau out of curiousity and another xiom sigma euro.

While adding stuff to the cart i noticed that they had Boosters. I believe the name is falco long booster.

I have read a little about speedgluing and boosting but i have never done it before. And from what i have read it says the booster should last up to 3 months and thats longer than most boosters i think. So out of curiousity i bought the booster and a Hurricane 3 sheet. Just to try it out.

What my question is after the boost wears out is the whole rubber ruined or can i boost it more?

Alois Rosario Answered 10 years ago

Hi Jayce,

You can reboost the rubbers but it is not legal to boost.

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Jayce Soberano Posted 10 years ago

I knew its illegal but im just playing Tabletennis as a hobby. Just alittle curious about boosters.

Arkadi Danielyan Posted 8 years ago

Boosting is illegal only if it is done using a speed glue. Also boosting top sheet is illegal because the rule of ittf is only about topsheet not about sponge. U can even change the sponge of ny rubber u like and it is not against the rule. and also the rule says changing the topsheeg charecteristics is illegal not recovering the characteristics. So by boosting hurricane 3 you bring back the speed that it used yo have the day it was boosted in factory and by the time it reached to customer it is already not the ittf approved rubber. For it to fit characteristics of the rubber which once was approved u need to boost it. Conclusion is that for some rubbers boosting is not illegal but not boosting

Alois Rosario from PingSkills Posted 8 years ago

Hi Arkadi,

I have gone to Graeme Ireland our resident Referee and rules expert with the ITTF. HIs response is this.

Use of boosters isn’t allowed under any circumstances. The relevant clauses are:

2.4.7 The racket covering shall be used without any physical, chemical or other treatment.

3.4.2.2 The racket covering shall be used as it has been authorised by the ITTF without any physical, chemical or other treatment, changing or modifying playing properties, friction, outlook, colour, structure, surface, etc.; in particular, no additives shall be used.

As you can see there is nothing about “characteristics” or “recovering characteristics”. However it is correct that the sponge isn’t authorised but the whole covering has to comply with 2.4.3.

Thien Bui Posted 8 years ago

Many top players are known to boost their rubbers because you read about them getting disqualified for tampering with their equipment LOL! The DHS NEO series for example are factory boosted, alot of Japanese/German rubbers are also factory boosted. This is not even debatable because you can clearly see the rubber already warped when new and you can even smell it too.

So the more appropriate question should be: "Should I boost non-factory tuned classic rubbers to minimize the disadvantage?"

Most people are recreational or amateur club players, do what ever you want equipment testing would not be that strict unless its national level or higher. If you get disqualified, you probably used too many layers of booster. 1 layer is enough!

Mark Cannon Posted 7 years ago

The only thing worth boosting is your workout schedule. That's definitely not illegal.

Alois Rosario from PingSkills Posted 7 years ago

Haha... Nice one Mark...