The table tennis world has moved from celluloid to plastic balls and there is a big rush to get these new, bigger balls before the season opens in a month or so.
And while the balls are easily available in Chennai, there is clearly a problem in many other cities. Players from the Alappuzha YMCA Academy, Kerala’s top table tennis nursery, were forced to place orders in Chennai as the balls were not available in the State, while in Bengaluru, the Karnataka State association has decided to conduct its first tournaments with the old celluloid balls.
“We had to procure the plastic balls from Chennai and the cost is very high too. This year, we have crossed last year’s budget for balls in the first quarter itself,” said Bobby Joseph.
Bona Thomas John, the Bengaluru-based former international and Karnataka junior coach whose trainee Archana Kamath had a nice run in the recent Thailand Open in the cadet section, feels that there is a shortage of balls all over the country.
“We have not imposed the plastic ball rule in Bengaluru. The thing is, we don’t have sufficient stock in the country. That is why the TTFI had taken a decision that all the zonals and National championships would be played with plastic balls but in local tournaments, they have allowed the use of celluloid balls,” said John who is also the Indian Railways coach.
Bigger and slower“But there is no meaning in that. There is a lot of difference between plastic and celluloid balls. Plastic balls, first of all, are slightly bigger than celluloid balls, and the speed and spin of plastic balls are slightly slower. So, if they play the local tournaments with celluloid balls and the zonals and Nationals with plastic, it will be a problem for players.
“Archana Kamath (his trainee) and I have been playing only with plastic after the Nationals. I find it very difficult, there is no spin and speed. Speed is okay but not like celluloid.”
In Chennai, however, tournaments are being planned with plastic balls to offer players a head-start, said former SAF champion Arul Selvi.
“Our players need to get plastic ball exposure. We have completely shifted to plastic balls and only for beginners we use celluloid. Even our tournaments are being planned with plastic,” said Selvi who runs the Centre Court Club in Chennai.
But plastic balls are expensive and they don’t last long too.
“The balls are expensive, between Rs. 90 and Rs. 120 per piece, and they break easily. They last 30 per cent lesser than celluloid balls. Table tennis certainly has become more expensive now.”
The Table Tennis Federation of India admitted that there was a shortage of balls in many States.
“The smaller States, they have a problem. But bigger States like Maharashtra and Bengal don’t have a problem,” said the TTFI Secretary Dhanraj Choudhary on Wednesday.
“And today, we will be sending a circular to State associations that they can buy the plastic balls from the national federation,” said Choudhary. “Plenty of balls have now come in from DHS, Stag and Joola, they are available in markets and in States where there is a problem, the State associations can have it from the TTFI.”
Issue raised at AGMChoudhary said that many National federations had raised the issue about the huge cost of balls and their quality at the world body ITTF’s recent AGM during the World championship in Suzhou in China.
“Many appeared to be concerned about the cost and quality of the balls. I had also raised the issue at the AGM on April 30 and the ITTF has assured us that good quality balls would be made available and that it would try to reduce the cost of balls too,” he said.
The cost was Rs. 1800 for a box of dozen seamless three-star balls but now it has come down to about Rs. 1100, said Choudhary.
“The other ones, the normal two-star and one-star balls come to about Rs. 600 per dozen. But we have asked only for seamless balls because they last longer and appear to be of good quality.”
The National table tennis season opens with the Southern India ranking tournament in Chennai in August.
