Hardbat

table tennis Table tennis, also known as ping-pong and whiff-whaff, is a sport in which two or four players hit a lightweight ball, also known as the ping-pong ball, back and forth across a table using small solid rackets. It takes place on a hard table div ...

is the classical table tennis playing style that existed prior to the advent of sponge rubber in the 1950s. The main difference between hardbat and modern table tennis lies in the racket used, which greatly affects the dynamics and strategy of the game. Hardbat rackets use short outward "pips" with no

sponge Sponges, the members of the phylum Porifera (; meaning 'pore bearer'), are a basal animal clade as a sister of the diploblasts. They are multicellular organisms that have bodies full of pores and channels allowing water to circulate throug ...

, resulting in decreased speeds and reduced spin compared to rackets using sponge rubber. This results in slower shots, and a more strategic game rather than the fast-paced, heavy topspin attacking style that dominates regular table tennis. There has recently been a resurgence of hardbat play, with national championships contested yearly in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

. A " World Championship of Ping Pong", a table tennis tournament using standardised hardbats, was promoted by Matchroom Sports at Alexandra Palace in January 2013. It was won by

Maxim Shmyrev Maxim Shmyrev (born 30 November 1971) is a male table tennis player from Moscow, Russia. He is a multiple Russian National Champion in table tennis, winning Men Singles title five times. He is also a three-times world champion of ping-pong (sandp ...

. The American

Marty Reisman Martin 'Marty' Reisman (February 1, 1930 – December 7, 2012) was an American champion table tennis player and author. He was the 1958 and 1960 U.S. Men's singles champion and the 1997 U.S. hardbat champion. Table tennis career Reisman started ...

became the oldest person ever to win an open national competition in a racquet sport when he won the 1997 United States National Hardbat championship at age 67.

Notes

External links

$100,000 Bud Light Hardbat Classic Photos & Video Gallery
(link dead) Table tennis {{Tabletennis-stub

See also

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