Equipment
Hey Alois,
I have heard rumours recently of people using booster on their raquets in tournaments.
Is there any way to prevent people doing this as its cheating and unfair?
Also is there anyway to tell if someone is using booster (in open play or on racquets)?
Cheers
Connor
Alois Rosario Answered 13 years ago
Hi Connor,
Unfortunately this is a big problem. The only official way is to have their bats tested. The machines that do this are very expensive and not readily available.
Some anecdotal ways that you can tell are that the ball hitting the bat will be louder and also from the smell coming from the rubber.
It is an unfortunate part of the sport at the moment. Until someone can come up with a cheap way of testing for these chemicals, I don't think this will be fixed.
Of course players that are using these if they get to a high enough level will have to change their habits. At major international tournaments there is racket testing that will catch them out.
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I heard that Jun Mizutani boycotted ITTF events for a while in protest against the illegal use of boosters and tuners...so still seems a problem even at the elite level. I also recall reading a blog by Henzell for one of the international events he went to and how it was clear almost everyone was using boosters. I don't know why the testing machines can't pick these out.
I think you may be right about the smell of speed glue only being evident for a short time after being applied. If the smell lasted a long time, then bat testers would just smell the bats. But, as Alois says, they need some pretty fancy equipment to detect if the illegal gas particles (VOCs),measured in parts per million, are present. This YouTube video shows ITTF testing at elite level (VOC testing is about 5 mins in).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fTCbpWmPzTY
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