Liebherr World Table Tennis Championship 2017 is coming close. This year’s WTTC will take place in Dusseldorf, Germany, from May 29 to June 5. As the most important table tennis competition of the year, Liebherr World Table Tennis Championship certainly draws a huge attention. Numerous sponsors of 2017 WTTC have recognized there a great opportunity to reach a multi-million audience worldwide. The ITTF itself is expecting as many as 400 million spectators around the globe.
DHS is the official 2017 WTTC 2017 table tennis table supplier. No wonder DHS decided to introduce their novelty at the 54th WTTC in Dusseldorf. Their well-known Rainbow competition table is now DHS Rainbow Dusseldorf and it comes with the black table top.
This Shanghai-based TT equipment giant introduced Rainbow table tennis table series for the first time in 2000 at Men’s World Cup in Yangzhou. Since then, DHS tables from the Rainbow series were the official WTTC tables in 2003, 2004, 2005, 2010, 2011, 2013 and 2015. DHS Rainbow Dusseldorf competition table is the latest addition to the DHS Rainbow series. This year’s model is based on the design of 15 Rainbow table used at WTTC 2015 in Suzhou, China.
DHS Rainbow Dusseldorf table also comes after recent changes in ITTF official regulations in regard to table tennis table surface color. These changes were inspired by red–green color blindness issue, common to a certain number of players. Since sometimes it may be difficult for players with this anomaly to distinguish green table surface from usually red floor covering, ITTF adopted slightly changed regulations in 2016. Now, table tennis top surface on all ITTF approved tables must have a dark color and must be matt (as defined in 2016 ITTF Technical Leaflet T1: Table, chapter 4.7). And according to the changes in regulations, instead of blue and green only, there are also gray, purple and finally black surface tables now.
DHS Rainbow Dusseldorf Table Tennis Table (Image credit: ITTF)
Although DHS came up with the slogan “Black is bold”, DHS Rainbow Black is not exactly the first black top table tennis table ever, as they at DHS claim. There are few other table tennis tables with a black top surface for a quite some time. However, DHS Rainbow Black Dusseldorf is the first ITTF approved table tennis table with the black colored top plate. Therefore, this table will be the first black table top table tennis table used at the official world-class level tournament.
DHS Rainbow Dusseldorf center court features undercarriage in the arch shape, symbolizing table tennis ball’s trajectory. Apart from the symbolic, arch structure made from steel and covered with the plastic aluminum board has practical benefits. It provides additional stability of the table, for one. The top plate is 22mm thick tournament top in black with glare reducing coating. Additionally, this Rainbow center court table will be illuminated with LED lights and framed in German flag color scheme: black, red and gold.
DHS Rainbow Dusseldorf Show Court (Image: Facebook @ITTFWorldChamps)
At 2017 WTTC will be played on eight of them in total.
Earlier this year, Jorg Rosskopf and Jie Shopp, the German national team coaches, have ordered six Rainbow Dusseldorf tables for the German Table Tennis Association (DTTB). German national team players have been practicing on them since mid-April.
Chinese table tennis squad members, as well as 2017 ITTF-Asian Table Tennis Championships participants, were also preparing for the upcoming 2017 WTTC on Rainbow Dusseldorf black top tables.
Here is a teaser for black top DHS Rainbow Dusseldorf, the official show court table at 2017 Liebherr WTTC: