Tibhar Balsa Def 25

Tibhar Balsa Def 25 - Attention, defensive players!

"Finally", many table tennis players might say. Especially those favoring a more defensive gaming style. The reason is the Tibhar Balsa Def 25, whereas its name already suggests its usability. Please note that Tibhar also offers many other innovative versions, suitable for allround and offensive players. However, it is important to mention that the Balsa Def 25 is also suitable for an allround gaming style. In this case, however, one might have to use faster rubbers.

Tibhar Balsa Def 25 - some facts

Defensive players search for table tennis blades with a low weight, much precision, and an optimal sweet spot. To meet these requirements, natural wood and its veneer-like combinations within the blade play a fundamental role. However, in terms of weight aspects, natural limits also seem apparent.

To counteract this in a best possible way, the German brand Tibhar uses one of the lightest (if not THE lightest) wood type available: Balsa. Typically, defensive blades weigh about 85-90 g. The Balsa Def 25 only weighs about 75 g (slight departures from this are, however, possible).

Balsa trees are native to neo-tropical regions (South America, Central America, and the West Indies). They reach a height of approx. 50 m, whereas the trunk diameter is up to 2 m. As already mentioned, Balsa is very light (density 130 kg/m³), not very strong (Young´s modulus: 2,600 N/mm²), and soft (Janka hardness: 88). You can see that this wood is perfect to reduce weight. Furthermore, the softness of the wood causes very pleasant overall gaming properties: e.g., good control, much safety, and much feedback. Balsa is also known to exhibit catapult-like effects which emphasizes the suitability of the blade for allround players (in combination with fast(er) rubbers)

Of course, weight aspects are not the only feature here. The size of the head of this blade was increased, which results in an enlarged sweet spot area (this is the area where the optimal gaming properties exist).

Tibhar Balsa Def 25 - its suitability

The Tibhar Balsa Def 25 is suitable for both systems, classical defenders (with backspin defenses and spin variations) and the modern material-based game (based on slightly more offensive moves, usually performed by the forehand). However, it is interesting to note that pips-out-rubbers also harmonize with the Balsa Def 25 from Tibhar.

Another important advantage of the Tibhar Balsa Def 25 is also that even relatively imprecisely hit balls reach their target. The reasons for this is the combination of the enlarged head (and sweet spot) of the blade and its extremely low weight. This leads to ease in your strokes, combined with much feeling and control.

Within the Tibhar Balsa series, there are the following models:

• Tibhar Balsa Def 25: light-weight, defensive blade
• Tibhar Balsa Allround 50: for variable allrounders
• Tibhar Balsa Fibretec 60: attacks with quite a bit of feeling
• Tibhar Balsa Fibretec 75: uncompromisingly offensive