Explanation
In this page, Hurricane NEO III Blue Sponge for Ministry Term is reviewed. katsuo000 was used Hurricane NEO III Blue Sponge for Ministry Term in forehand side rubber for several periods. It should be noted that, this review was using Hurricane NEO III Blue Sponge for Ministry Term pasted with general water-based glues (without organic-based speed glue, such as Booster, which is prohibited in Japan).
A big Chinese sports maker, Double Happiness Shanghai (DHS) sells Hurricane NEO III and lots of top Chinese players use rubbers produced by DHS. When talking about Chinese table tennis, we don’t avoid about Hurricane, which is representative a tacky rubber. DHS sells two kinds of tacky rubbers, which are Hurricane and Sky Line. Sky Line is used by penholder drive type players such as Xu Xin. On the other hand, shake hand drive type players use Hurricane. There are several kinds of rubbers named Hurricane, thus, a little very confusing. Therefore, let me explain kinds of Hurricane.
Hurricane made by Nittaku
Chinese Top Players use Hurricane by DHS, however, tacky rubbers named Hurricane are also sold by Nittaku in Japan. Name are the same, but, the performance of them are very different at all, I guess.
Below are line up of Hurricane by Nittaku on 2020.
・Nittaku Hurricane II
・Nittaku Hurricane III
・Hurricane Pro II
・Hurricane Pro III
・Hurricane NEO III
・Hurricane Pro III Turbo Orange
・Hurricane Pro II Turbo Blue
7 kinds of Hurricane are sold by Nittaku. We select color (red / black) of sheet and thickness of sponge in Hurricane by Nittaku. Hurricane by Nittaku are composed from tacky sheet made in China and sponge made in Japan. The sponge made in Japan are softer, thus, Hurricane by Nittaku are tending to be better to control. If katsuo000 need to select Hurricane by Nittaku, Hurricane Pro series, which possess hard sponge and very tacky, are expected to recommend. Hurricane Pro series such as Hurricane Pro II and Hurricane Pro III are close to Chinese tacky rubbers with low bounce and heavy weight for raging drives. Moreover, katsuo000 suggested that Hurricane by Nittaku are heavier than that by DHS.
↓Hurricane Pro III Turbo Blue and Hurricane Pro III Turbo Orange show the same speed and spin numbers.
Let’s get back to Hurricane NEO III by DHS.
Hurricane made by DHS
Below are line up of Hurricane by DHS.
・Hurricane II
・Hurricane III
・Hurricane III-50
・Hurricane 8
・Hurricane NEO II
・Hurricane NEO III
6 kinds of Hurricane are sold by DHS. So, rubber named ‘Hurricane NEO III blue sponge‘ are one of ‘Hurricane NEO III‘s. In addition, classes of rubbers are also existing in DHS. Classes are ‘for General use‘, ‘for Ministry Term‘, and ‘for National Term’. These are not ‘Blue sponge‘ type in ‘for general use’. There are ‘Blue sponge‘ type only in ‘for Ministry Term‘ and ‘for National Term‘. Moreover, there are ‘White sponge‘ type only in ‘for National Term‘. Of course, we also select both thickness and stiffness of sponge in Hurricane. After here, mainly Hurricane NEO III is described.
Shape (for General, Ministry Term, National Term)
katsuo000 strongly feels important about packaged shape of Hurricane NEO III. Performance of Hurricane NEO III for Ministry / National Term are very different from Hurricane NEO III for General, and Hurricane NEO III for Ministry / National Term show better spin and bounce with feeling to grab a ball. Package shape of Hurricane NEO III for General is octagon, package shape of Hurricane NEO III for Ministry Term is hexagon, and Hurricane NEO III for National Term is rectangle. Area of rubbers is octagon < hexagon < rectangle. Below are pictures of Hurricane NEO III for referring
For General = Octagon
Hurricane NEO III for General
For Ministry Term = Hexagon
Hurricane NEO III Blue Sponge for Ministry Term
For National Term = Rectangle
Hurricane NEO III for National Term
Like pictures, package shape of rubbers are different, thus, players easily distinguish which rank (for General, Ministry Term, National Term) of Hurricane NEO III.
Sponge (Orange, White, Blue)
Orange Sponge
At first, standard sponge for Hurricane NEO III is orange sponge. From for General to National Term, there are orange sponge in all rank of rubbers. Players, who try to use Hurricane NEO III for the first time, probably use Hurricane NEO III with orange sponge. This orange sponge is a little hard, similar to iron and not so feel to grab a ball. katsuo000 suggested especially, top spin drive is often raging, thus Hurricane NEO III by DHS is completely different comparing to Hurricane by Nittaku.
White Sponge
katsuo000 doesn’t know about Hurricane NEO III with white sponge. This Hurricane NEO III with white sponge is very rare and for use in back side rubber with very soft sponge. Ma long may use this type of rubber his back side rubber.
Blue Sponge
Blue sponge Hurricane NEO III is existing for Ministry Term and National Term. Sheet color of rubber is only black. This is said to be that red sheet put on blue sponge, red sheet is transparent becoming not red rubber, thus there’re no red sheet on blue sponge in DHS. Almost all top Chinese players use blue sponge rubber on their fore side. So top players use this special Hurricane with blue sponge. Hurricane NEO III with blue sponge is easier to grab a ball letting feel better control with arc by swing, comparing to orange sponge even the same sponge stiffness. Therefore, Hurricane NEO III with blue sponge are often used in fore side rubber.
Stiffness and Thickness of Sponge
Sponge Stiffness
Currently players select sponge stiffness of rubbers. For example, in Tenergy 05 by Butterfly there are 3 stiffness of sponge, Tenergy 05, Tenergy 05 FX, and Tenergy 05 Hard. Both speed and spin performances are the same, but the stiffness are different. Spin amount, controllability, speed are also different. In Tenergy 05, we select 3 stiffness. On the other hand, in Hurricane NEO III by DHS, we select more stiffness.
In Hurricane NEO III for General, we select 39, 40, and 41 stiffness. But, searching widely and deeply, we find Hurricane NEO III with from 35 to 42 stiffness. Changing 1 stiffness, 7 kinds of stiffness is existing!
Sponge Thickness
In Hurricane NEO III, we select 2.20 mm, 2.15 mm, and 2.10 mm.
Price and others
Talking about price of Hurricane NEO III, Hurricane NEO III for General is about 3,000 yen is web site. Hurricane NEO III for General shows often raging drive comparing to Hurricane by Nittaku, but sponge is very hard, thus not easy to control and flying distance is short. On the other hand, price of Hurricane NEO III for Ministry / National Term is very high. Hurricane NEO III for Ministry Term is about 5,000 – 6,000 yen, Hurricane NEO III for National Term is about 8,000 yen. Hurricane NEO III for Ministry / National Term is very easy to grab a ball and easier to control. In addition, Hurricane NEO III for Ministry / National Term with blue sponge shows more expensive but much easier to control. katsuo000 think top Chinese players maybe carry out pre- (and/or post-) processing into Hurricane NEO III for National Term.
*Specification of Top Players
katsuo000 found Hurricane NEO III for National Term specified for Ma Long and Fan Zhendong.
・Hurricane NEO III for National Term with Blue Sponge, Black, 42, 2.10 mm
・Hurricane NEO III for National Term, Red, 37, 2.10 mm
・Hurricane NEO III for National Term with Blue Sponge, Black, 41.5, 2.10 mm
All Hurricane NEO III specified for top players possess 2.10 mm thickness, which means pre- and/or post- processing is carried out. Price was about 15,000 yen!
Fake of Hurricane NEO III for Ministry / National Term
There are fake of Hurricane NEO III for Ministry / National Term. One of method to judge fake or not is using anti-counterfeit seal. katsuo000 suggest that it’s better to buy packaged rubber because Hurricane NEO III for Ministry / National Term is pre-processing before forwarding. Below is checking page of serial number by DHS.
Jump to serial number for DHS site
After buying, we can check Hurricane NEO III for Ministry / National Term by serial number. After click, we find 2 type of expressions. Off course, this check doesn’t guarantee completely, but, it will be a relief.
Judge to Fake
Judge to Genuine
katsuo000 recommend to beginner not to buy just with interest.
Summary of Hurricane NEO III by DHS
There’re 6 kinds of Hurricane by DHS.
・Hurricane II
・Hurricane III
・Hurricane III-50
・Hurricane 8
・Hurricane NEO II
・Hurricane NEO III
In each of Hurricane by DHS, there’re lots of kinds below.
3 Ranks (for National /Ministry Term, General)
3 Sponges (Orange, White, Blue)
7 Stiffness (35 – 42)
3 Thickness (2.10, 2.15, 2.20 mm)
There’re 6 × 1（or 2 or 3）× 2（or 3）× 7 × 3 = 378 selections.
Maybe, DHS change specifications for each players. DHS offers lots of selections. This may be Players First mind. Finally, katsuo000 makes a comment.
・Hurricane II: Strongly tacky. not so bounce
・Hurricane III: Slightly tacky. Standard.
・Hurricane III-50: Slightly tacky.
・Hurricane 8: Slightly tacky. Slightly tensioned. Bounce.
・Hurricane NEO II: Strongly tacky. pre-processing.
・Hurricane NEO III: Slightly tacky. pre-processing.
Top Japanese Players using Hurricane by DHS
Currently, not all top Chinese players but also top Japanese players use Hurricane Blue Sponge! Yuya Oshima (just a small period, now he use Tenergy 05 Hard), who won second prize of men’s doubles in World Table Tennis 2017, used Hurricane Blue Sponge. Kasumi Ishikawa and Hina Hayata, who won all Japan table tennis champion ship, are now use Hurricane Blue Sponge by DHS on their fore hand side. Moreover, it tends to increase Japanese women players who use Hurricane by DHS (I’m not sure Blue Sponge or not). For instance, chopper players such as Honoka Hashimoto and Hitomi Sato are use Hurricane By DHS. Saki Shibata and Satsuki Odo, who are drive type players belonged to Shitennoji High School, are also use Hurricane by DHS. Top players tend to use Hurricane by DHS (not by Nittaku).
Comparison of Hurricane by Nittaku and by DHS
katsuo000 felt Hurricane by Nittaku are higher bounce than Hurricane by DHS, because of softer sponge than Hurricane by DHS sponge made in China. Moreover, Hurricane by DHS is not so bounce anyway in good or bad way. Thus, using Hurricane by DHS, even in receive, we hit top spin drive with all our power. Of course, using outer carbon such as Timo Boll Spirit (5 play woods with 2 outer arylate carbon and blade thickness is 5.8 mm), power drives with Hurricane by DHS often hit the net during even up rotation rallies. It’s necessary for using Hurricane by DHS to rub up the ball. However, even in up rotation rallies, drive with Hurricane by DHS often possess highest spin amount such as slow-top-spin-loop drive against back rotation. Then change into Hurricane Blue Sponge by DHS, katsuo000 loved to use Hurricane Blue Sponge by DHS for a year because of softer feeling to hit a ball. katsuo000 felt to use Hurricane Blue Sponge by DHS not only with similarity to spin tension type rubbers, but also with enough spin amount in serve and raging drives. In addition to the performance and utility of Hurricane Blue Sponge by DHS, storage the Hurricane by DHS with TSP tacky sheet enables to prolong the life span of rubbers. Characteristic performance of Hurricane Blue Sponge by DHS is compatibility of both highest spin amounts by Chinese tacky-sheeted rubbers with enough speed by hitting with power.
katsuo000 use Hurricane by DHS with blades below:
・Zhang Jike ZLC (5 play woods + 2 outer zylon carbon with blade thickness: 5.5 mm)
・Timo Boll Spirit (5 play woods + 2 outer arylate carbon with blade thickness: 5.8 mm)
・Mizutani Jun ZLC (5 play woods + 2 outer zylon carbon with blade thickness: 5.7 mm)
・Mizutani Jun SuperZLC (5 play woods + 2 outer super zylon carbon with blade thickness: 5.8 mm)
・Fortius FT ver. D (7 play woods + 2 outer polyester fiber with blade thickness: 6.4 mm)
・Fortius FT (7 play woods with blade thickness: 6.4 mm)
・Virtuoso+ (5 play woods with blade thickness: 5.8 mm)
・Ultimate Carbon (4 play woods + 3 inner carbon with blade thickness: 5.7 mm)
・Sardius (3 play woods + 2 Tamca 5000 Carbon with blade thickness: 7.2 mm)
The weight of Hurricane NEO III Blue Sponge for Ministry Term (sponge was 2.15 mm with 40 stiffness) after cut (without post processing) was about 47 g. This weight was lighter than other Chinese-tacky rubbers. Some players prefer to use heavy tacky rubbers because their higher bounce. Anyway, this lighter weight (below 50 g) of Hurricane NEO III Blue Sponge for Ministry Term was one of characteristics.
3 Points of Hurricane NEO III Blue Sponge for Ministry Term
Best Gear for Raging Drive with Sinking Down!
Characteristic of Hurricane is topspin drive with Raging and Sinking Down! This by only Hurricane. Players, who use Hurricane, love the raging topspin drives. Using and using Hurricane with harder and harder sponge, you control the raging topspin drives. Raging drive by Hurricane is accelerating speed with sinking down after bouncing the table, which is very different from other hard rubbers. For example, Raging drive by Tenergy and Dignics is hopping up after bouncing the table (the opposite). Anyway, raging drive by Hurricane is amazing because some of top players say they don’t want to touch the raging drive by Hurricane.
Easy to Service Ace because of Spin Amount and Speed
Second characteristic of Hurricane NEO III Blue Sponge for Ministry Term is service compatibility of high spin amount and high speed. Thus, using Hurricane, you earn small points by services. Hurricane NEO III is tacky rubber thus easy to control half long serve with high speed due to pre-processing. katsuo000 often used side and back spin serve with high speed, which seems to be knuckle ball (no rotation) but very heavy back spin.
Best Balanced Tacky Rubber with Good Touch against short ball and High Bounce from middle distance!
Third characteristic of Hurricane NEO III Blue Sponge for Ministry Term is best balance. When receiving and/or touching ball on the table, it’s easy to control stop and push. Moreover, during up rotation rallies, it’s enough bounce for speed drive. Tacky rubbers tend to be more difficult to control speed drive than spin tension type rubbers. Using tacky rubbers, katsuo000 often open blade face to utilize bending of rubber and blade, then, hit a ball with all power sequentially making spin and arc by follow through, finally, katsuo000 enable speed drive. After understanding this way for speed drive, katsuo000 control speed drive with ignoring the spin amount and height of ball. It’s advantage to use tacky rubbers for ignoring not only spin amount but also height of ball. These points enable killing speed drives. katsuo000 felt easy speed drives because of Hurricane NEO III Blue Sponge for Ministry Term. Of course, it’s necessary for using Hurricane to hit with more power and stronger touch, however, katsuo000 felt possible intense speed rallies against spin tension rubbers. katsuo000 felt impossible rallies by using Hurricane NEO III for General. Hurricane NEO III Blue Sponge for Ministry Term possess wider territory, which is one of characteristics.
Review of Every Technique
Fore Hand Series
Light hitting
Firstly, it’s not so bounce. The sounds little bit cute. Blue sponge is feeling better touch, however, in comparison, lower bounce than spin type tension rubbers.
Drive during Rally
Drives with light hitting are normal drive. Drives with powerful hitting become raging drive ball. katsuo000 felt it’s better to seek raging ball not speed.
Top Spin Slow Drive against back spin ball
katsuo000 often depend on this type drive for earning points. katsuo000 felt high quality of top spin drive with Zhang Jike ZLC and Hurricane NEO III Blue Sponge for Ministry Term.
Speed Drive against back spin ball
If you control face-opened drive, you probably hit good speed drive. Swing of drive are different from each other. Drive ball also affected by swings. This rubber is attractive because swings including follow through effect drive ball. It’s manual (not automatically).
Block
It’s not easy to block.
Counter-Drive
It’s easier to control counter-drive by using Hurricane NEO III Blue Sponge. katsuo000 felt stable after inviting a ball to hit a counter-drives.
Stop
It’s easy to stop outstandingly, even after vertex.
Push
It’s also easy to push similar to stop.
Serve
It’s compatible both high spin amount and speed.
Back Hand Series
katsuo000 never use Hurricane NEO III Blue Sponge for Min on back side.
Light hitting
Drive during Rally
Top Spin Slow Drive against back spin ball
Speed Drive against back spin ball
Block
Counter-Drive
Stop
Push
Chiquita
Comparing to other rubbers (Personal Impressions）
Spin Amount
Dignics 09C ≧ Dignics 05 > Hurricane NEO III Blue Sponge for Min > Tenergy 05
Speed
Dignics 05 > Dignics 09C > Tenergy 05 > Hurricane NEO III Blue Sponge for Min
Control of Raging Drive
Hurricane NEO III Blue Sponge for Min > Dignics 09C > Dignics 05 > Tenergy 05