TIBHAR DEFENCE PLUS

The Tibhar Defense Plus is a table tennis blade which is especially designed for defenders. For this, the head of the Defense Plus was enlarged. Under normal circumstances, this leads to a heavier blade. In contrast to many other competing products, however, this is not the case considering the Defense Plus.

This TT blade is based on 5 veneers. Two of them are made of Balsa. Balsa is a tree which grows in so called neo-tropical regions (South America, Central America, and the West Indies). It reaches a height of approx. 50 m, whereas its trunk may reach a diameter of approx. 2 m. Balsa exhibits a very low weight (density 130 kg/m³), is not very strong (Young´s modulus: 2,600 N/mm²), and is soft (Janka hardness: 88).

It becomes evident that this wood is perfect to reduce weight, which is the case considering the Tibhar Defense Plus. It only weighs 75 g! In addition to this, the softness of the wood causes very pleasant overall gaming properties (e.g. good control, much safety, and much feedback). This is particularly important during the passive play (e.g. when receiving serves, during blocks, and counters). Note that balsa is also known to exhibit catapult-like effects. This emphasizes its suitability as a defensive PLUS (Def+) TT blade! However, the veneer structure also causes a braking effect. The overall thickness of this TT blade is approx. 6.4 mm.

To summarize, the Tibhar Defense Plus offers maximum control when doing backspin defending strokes. As mentioned above, the catapult effect is capable of considerably accelerating the ball in case more offensive strokes are required. This enables controllable, offensive moves using this blade.

Many defending players use allround blades combined with thin rubbers.