Donic Waldner Off World Champion 89

Donic Waldner Off World Champion 89 - Another great blade within this series

Twenty-five years after their spectacular success at the table tennis world championship in 1989, Donic honors the players from back then with creating three new World Champion 89 blades. The Donic Waldner Off World Champion 89 was dedicated to Jan-Ove Waldner, the "Mozart" among table tennis players.

Within the blades of this series, the veneers are dried via a recently developed cold-pressing process. This allows to reduce the amount of moisture within the material up to 4%. Due to this, the material is dimensionally very stable during and after the manufacturing process.

The materials used for the Waldner Off are the same as in the faster Persson Off+: 1.0 mm Italian spruce, 0.8 mm spruce, 3.0 mm kiri, carbon-fleece zylon (cfz), 0.8 mm spruce, and 1.0 mm Italian spruce (more details on these materials further below).  However, there is a difference with respect to the veneer arrangement in order to obtain more control and a better feedback/feeling compared to the Off+ version. The cfz layers of the Waldner Off are not located between the outer and inner veneers, but between the inner and the core veneer. This results in a harmonic feeling for the game with a balanced mix based on speed and control. Consequently, returns and blocks during passive situations go off the hand in a controllable manner with much precision even for sensitive strokes.

Of course, the Donic Waldner Off World Champion 89 also has enough power for offensive strokes. This allows you to easily perform topspins and shots, for example. All in all, this Donic blade is recommended for variational attackers who are still preferring a good feeling for game when doing passive strokes. The corresponding gaming style is the controlled offensive (Off-) and the offensive (Off), also depending on the rubbers you select.

Donic Waldner Off World Champion 89 - A closer look at the materials

As already mentioned, we now would like to have a closer look at the materials used in the Waldner Off World Champion 89.

Let us first get started with the heart of this blade, the core veneer. This veneer is made of Kiri wood. Kiri is a tree native to Central and West China. However, cultivations of this tree can also be found in Japan, Korea or North America. The tree may reach a height of approx. 15 m. Kiri is quite light (density: 300 kg/m³), not very strong (Young´s modulus: 4,380 N/mm²), and not very hard (Janka hardness: 250). Kiri veneers are denser, more durable, and harder than e.g. Balsa layers. Hence, Kiri plies are heavier and faster than Balsa plies. This underlines the suitability of Kiri to support more offensive strokes. Still, Kiri always exhibits good control and feedback!

Next to the core veneer, we can find layers of Carbon-Fleece-Zylon fabric (layers 2+4). This material is quite new, innovative, and is exclusively produced for Donic. As you might already know, Carbon fibers (made of the element C) are very light, but at the same time extremely strong and stable. Hence, the whole blade becomes stiffer, more direct, and more dynamical.

Finally, (Italian) Spruce is the third type of material used in the Donic Waldner Off World Champion 89 (layers 3+5+outer plies). Spruce (Picea abies) is native to Europe (except the British Isles and the Iberian Peninsula), but also to large parts of Asia. Spruce trees can reach an age of 600 years, a height of approx. 60 m, and a trunk diameter of approx. 2 m. The trees grow very quickly, and they are very frost-resistant during the cold months. Spruce is heavier (density: 420 kg/m³), clearly stronger (Young´s modulus: 11,000 N/mm²), and slightly harder (Janka hardness: 300) than Kiri. In general, Spruce veneers offer much feedback and control. However, as is evident by the above-mentioned properties, spruce also supports offensive strokes! According to the manufacturer specifications, Donic uses trees with an age of more than 200 years for this blade (Italian Spruces). Also, the so called SPT technology (Spruce Pressing Technology, made in Germany) is applied. Please also note that when combining Spruce with more offensive materials, like Carbon, the properties are clearly directed toward more offensive features.

Donic World Champion 89 series - All members of the family

Below you can find the links to all Donic World Champion 89 blades:

• Donic Appelgren World Champion 89 All+: A low-weight power-allround blade with great control and feeling, but also more offensive options!
• Donic Waldner Off World Champion 89: Designed for variable attackers. Sufficient speed, but still good control.
• Donic Persson World Champion 89 Off+: The most offensive blade within this series. The ideal choice for brutal attacks!