‘Victas’ is a recently introduced Japanese table tennis brand. It had originally been ‘TSP’ that is the traditional Japanese brand, and one of the biggest table tennis brands in the world. But, it was acquired by Svenson Holdings in 2009 after facing a management crisis in the early 2000s, and then launched new ‘Victas’ brand in 2011. Although there was some trial and error in the beginning, awareness is rapidly increasing after adopting a unified CI. In 2017, the company name was changed to Victas, and in 2021, the existing TSP brand was abolished and all major products were incorporated into Victas. One of those products is ‘Swat’ which was originally the best selling 7-ply wood blade of TSP brand.

‘Swat’ was launched in 2011 under TSP brand as the 7-ply wood blade of new concept. The general image of 7-ply wood blade is that it is hard and highly elastic. However, ‘Swat’ was developed specifically to break that stereotype and realize the characteristics of ‘holding the ball well and providing high stability’. Thanks to its characteristics of being more stable than typical 7-ply wood and having more power than typical 5-ply wood, ‘Swat’ has become a popular blade representing TSP. And currently, ‘Swat’ is the major 7-ply wood blade in Victas blade range. ‘Swat’ is recommended for the players who doesn’t like the artificial feeling of fiber blade.

Left is original TSP version, and right is current Victas version. New CI of Victas (blue color and splitting line) is being applied to most of Victas blades, and ‘Swat’ isn’t an exception.

It seems that the thickness variation was large when ‘Swat’ was produced as TSP blade. The thickness of the left one in above picture is under 5.7mm while the thickness written on the catalog or home page is 6.0mm. Therefore the left one is much less elastic than the blade of catalog thickness. However, since the concept of the blade was stability and softness, the deviation toward softness did not seem to be a problem. Anyway, the thickness of current Victas version has little deviation, and is close to the value on the catalog. The thickness of right one (Victas version) is slightly under 6.1mm.

The new CI of Victas is being applied for Victas ‘Swat’. The theme of new Victas CI is splitting. The printing on the head, the color blocks of handle and the Victas logo in the lens represent the splitting image. The name of blade is written above the left side, and the specification and technology are written belowe the right side of head splitting image. It is interesting that product name isn’t written in the foreside lens at handle. This graphic theme is being applie for most of Victas blades.

The construction of blade is based on classic 7-ply wood construction of ‘Clipper’ type, but much thinner. Top layer is heat-treated Limba, middle layer is heat-treated Ayous. Three core layers are Ayous, and the center Ayous layer is also heat-treated. Overall thickness is slightly below 6.1mm. (Thickness is written as 6.0mm on the catalog.)

The width of FL handle is arouond 26mm ~ 26.5mm (at bulge) ~ 26mm (at the narrowest point) ~ 35.5 (at handle end), and the thickness of FL handle is around 24mm at thumb and around 26mm at the end. Because the handle end is wide and thick the grip is quite stable and firm although the middle of the handle is somewhat narrow. The size of ST handle (not shown in this article) is around 28mm (width) x around 23mm (thickness). The upper and lower face of ST handle is almost flat.

There isn’t any printing on the backside of head. But, at the backside of handle, there is a lens that includes the name of the product.

The size of head is around 158mm x 151mm.

The transparent plastic lens is applied for both sides of handle. ‘Victas’ logo and the product name are printed in the foreside lens and the backside lens respectively. The foreside lens with Victas logo is common for most of Victas blades.

At the end of handle, small aluminum plate that includes engraved Victas logo mark is applied.

The design theme of printing on foreside is applied for most of Victas blades. It is a very unique design and is consistent for every product, any one who sees it can tell at a glance that it is a Victas blade.

However, to disinguish between individual products, customers much check the name of the blade at the left side of head or in backside lens if they don’t have any prior knowledge on the blade construction.

The other models of ‘Swat’ series were also incorporated into the Victas brand. Left one is ‘Swat Carbon’ which is a 5+2 ply outer-carbon blade. The design concept of ‘Swat Carbon’ is 100% same as that of ‘Swat’ except for the product name and the description on specification.

Following are the performance indices of Swat (avg.weight = 87.6g) :

– Ep = 1.51

– Ec = 1.40 (Ec/Ep = 0.92)

– Vp = 1.13

– Vl = 1.13 (Vl/Vp = 1.00)

Please note that above are average values and can be updated by further measurement.

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