TATAP Extension

It’s about a year ago that Tenergy was selling like peanuts in Japan with three flavors, 05, 25 and 64. 05 was the best seller followed by 64.

Now I cannot believe that Xiom will dethrone Butterfly from its post. Xiom Vega also comes with three flavors, Pro, Asian, and Euro. I just came back from tournament after hiding in table tennis clubs for more than ten years, indeed there were many Xiom Vega Pro users. For blades no brand can knock out Butterfly here with many SK7 users.
Read the rest of this entry →

Popularity: 12% [?]

List below are the best selling table tennis blades and rubbers in Japan for the year 2009. Source: Kokusai Takkyu and Iruiru.

Inverted rubber

1. Butterfly Tenergy 64 – Joo Se Hyuk (FH), Mizutani Jun (FH & BH), OH Sang Eun (FH & BH), YOSHIDA Kaii (FH), Kishikawa Seiya (BH), Yoon Jae Young (FH & BH), Hirano Sayaka (BH), Krisztina Toth (FH & BH)
2. Butterfly Tenergy 05 – Timo Boll (FH & BH), Michael Maze (FH & BH), CHeung Yuk (FH), Werner Schlager (FH &  BH), Chuan Chih-Yuan (FH), Kishikawa Seiya (FH), Matsudaira Kenta (FH & BH), Zhang Yining (FH), Guo Yue (BH), Tie Yana (FH & BH), Tamara Boros (FH & BH) and Nikoleta Stefanova (FH & BH)
   
3. Butterfly Roundell
4. Butterfly Tenergy 25
5. Yasaka Xtend HS
6. Yasaka Xtend
7. Butterfly EL
8. Nittaku Renanos Soft
9. Butterfly Sriver FX
10. Donic Vario Soft

Pips out rubber

1. TSP Curl P1-R
2. Butterfly Feint Long III
3. TSP Spectol – Tan Ruiwu (BH), Li Jiawei (FH)
   
4. Nittaku Moristo SP
5. Mizuno Booster SA
6. TSP Curl P-H
7. Yasaka Phantom 008
8. Joola Octopus – Chen Weixing
9. Nittaku Moristo 44
10. Butterfly Raystorm

Shakehand blade

1. Butterfly Timo Boll ALC – Timo Boll, Matsudaira Kenta
2. Donic Dima Sawtec AR
3. Nittaku Sanalion S
4. Butterfly Primorac – Daniela Dodean
   
5. Butterfly Korbel Speed
6. Butterfly Timo Boll ZLC
7. Darker Hinoki Shake Speed 90
8. Nittaku Acoustic – Kim Jung Hoon, Lin Ling, Li Qiangbin,
   
9. Darker 7P-2A DF
10. Yasaka Ma Lin Carbon

J Pen

1. Xiom Athena Platinum
2. Nittaku Sanalion R
3. Kokutaku Bishu No.1 Specialist
4. Darker Speed 90
5. Butterfly Senkoh Super 95
6. Butterfly Hinoki Pen Neutrino S
7. Butterfly Cypress R
8. Nittaku Rutis J
9. Butterfly Cypress S
10. Butterfly Lendido

C Pen

1. Darker J Speed 90 CHN
2. Butterfly Chinese ULC
3. Yasaka Ma Lin Extra Offensive CHN – Ma Lin
4. Butterfly Yoshida Kaii – Yoshida Kaii
5. TSP Versal CHN
6. Butterfly Chinese AL
7. Donic Waldner Dicon CHN
8. Nittaku Sanalion R-H
9. Butterfly Chinese Slim
10. Nittaku WolFeed R-H

Thank God I am not an EJ (equipment junkie) anymore, only bought one blade last year, two Butterfly Tenergy 05 for my forehand, one Tibhar Rapid Dtecs for backhand and Joola Express One for backhand also. That was the last Rapid Dtecs after sticking with it for almost 6 years.

Current setup:
Blade: Nittaku Acoustic ST (Regular size handle)
Forehand: Butterfly Tenergy05 (Max)
Backhand: Joola Express One (Max)

Popularity: 11% [?]

Almost a year now since Butterfly released their Tenergy 05 (April 21, 2008) and it is still the best selling rubber to date. The demand for this rubber was high that Butterfly had their busiest time in the first quarter of 2009 to supply the demand.

Sale ranking from October to December 2008 Read the rest of this entry →

Popularity: 4% [?]

Now that we don’t need speed glue, manufacturers found a new way to rake up our money by making hi-tech built in speed glue rubbers.

While the advancement in technology helped them to make new generation rubbers, higher cost may decrease table tennis popularity in third world countries or may increase the popularity of hardbat.  Read the rest of this entry →

Popularity: 1% [?]

ITTF updated their list of authorized coverings (download list in PDF). Pongers who play with long pimples may check this list before playing in any international tournaments. Rubbers marked with † will no longer be authorized from July 1, 2008. Long pips players favorite rubbers that will be out soon are Alligator Long, Piranja FD Long, Boomerang, Monster, Bamboo Curl P-1 and many more. Read the rest of this entry →

Popularity: 1% [?]

Lots of Bryce. Bryce, Bryce FX, Bryce Hard.

Bryce Speed and Bryce Speed FX will be available on September 1st and that day is the speed glue ban start date too. I have no plan to replace my Bryce Hard but will definitely try that Bryce Speed without buying it, a friend of mine is waiting for it and I am waiting for him to buy it too.

If you are interested to find out you can read the article at Butterfly world.

Wait, I need to compute how many Bryce is needed to cover the blade below. Read the rest of this entry →

Popularity: 2% [?]